Summer Snow
by curiouzkatt
Summary: The Sanzoikko gets transported to earth to help fulfill a prophecy. they thought they were just needed for support, but Linlin needed more than that. made revisions throughout the story... i'm still working on how to use the commands around here, so
1. Prologue

**Summer Snow**

Introduction:

Togenkyo. A world that coexists with another planet called Earth. When the negative waves sprea, Earth was affected as well. Although the effect was less fierce, the Prophecy that was not supposed to unfold was now laid out, waiting for the pieces to move to signal a beginning, and an end. The link was strongest with one person, and she introduced to Earth the anime Gensomaden Saiyuki. Many know about Togenkyo and Earth is known to Togenkyo through books and Sanzo's newspapers.

* * *

**Prologue**

The silver-white moon peeked from behind the clouds, casting its rays over Togenkyo. Its light reaches a clearing where a small green jeep lay still, carrying its four passengers. On closer inspection, all are asleep except one.

Emerald green eyes watched the moon do its magic in silence, while sound, contented snores issued from the back of the jeep. The man smiled. It was rare to find peaceful nights such as this, and he had a nagging feeling on the back of his head that it wasn't going to last.

A bright light flashed in front of the jeep and there appeared the black haired, purple eyed, thin lipped, stoic faced, easily bored, deep voiced, eccentric dressing, and confident Kanzeon Bosatsu.

Sensing the goddess' presence, the other three were awake in an instant.

"You gods just LOVE to appear with a flare..." Sanzo commented, scowling at the goddess. "This better be important." Unsurprisingly, the goddess started to laugh her usual laugh.

"Ohohohohoho! You flatter me! Ohohoho!"

Gojyo stared then leaned over to Sanzo. "You had to say it…"

"Shut up," Sanzo snapped at the half-demon then turned to Kanzeon. "What do you want this time, old woman?" Although he made it clear that he was annoyed, the Goddess didn't stop at once. When she finally calmed down, her confident smile slowly faded into a serious expression, with a hint of mischief in them.

"Okay," she began, her thin lipped smile in place. "I'm sure all of you are aware of the Great Prophecy on Earth, right?"

Sanzo, Gojyo and Hakkai nodded while Goku looked at Kanzeon with his big, round curious eyes. "What prophecy?"

TONK!

Goku touched the spot where Gojyo had hit him and glared at the red head. "Itai! What was that for!" He lunges for Gojyo but he was too slow and tumbled out of the jeep. "Konno ero kappa!"

Gojyo looked down at the boy, grinning widely. "I told you not to call me that!" He said, jumping out of the jeep and both of them disappear into a cloud of dust. Hakkai, who knew he wouldn't be able to do anything, just laughed sheepishly while Sanzo fully ignored the 'idiots' and tried to remember the Great Prophecy.

_"Twin stars that shine equally bright will be born on the year of peace although their sign, as other say, means war. A smaller star, a kin, will follow them, whose sign resembles peace but the year is the beginning of chaos. When the blue planet has circled seventeen around the twins and sixteen for the other, sorrow will follow one after the other, for the twin closer to the small one will fade, only to reappear after the blue planet has circled the remaining two once more."_

Sanzo couldn't ignore the two any longer and brought out his fan, whacking the senses out of them. Hakkai still smiled then faced Kanzeon.

He addressed the Goddess. "But that's only half of the Great Prophecy, am I correct?" Kanzeon nodded and said. "It's the part where you come in."

"When the time has come, their powers will be revealed to perform a task no one else can accomplish but them. Four are destined to help, each very different but their past binds them strongly together. Challenges will come the stars' way but these are tests to prove if they are worthy of their name as a legendary star. One long gone will soon return and a new star will be born."

Goku, teary eyed, looked at the goddess. "But what does it have to do with us? It's Earth right? It's none of our business."

WHACK!

The boy turned his back on the group and started to sniffle. "I was only asking!"

Sanzo sighed a hopeless sigh and kept his fan. "I'm just speculating here, but I have the feeling that you want us to go there and protect the stars. (What the hell am I saying!)"

Kanzeon furrowed her brows, deep in thought. "Actually, I was just thinking of just warning you guys that more demons might attack you…" (Uh-oh… thought Sanzo) the Goddess looked at him and smiled. "But I like your idea better."

"WHAAAAAT!" Gojyo was yelling his head off then turned to the monk. "This is all your fault you droopy-eyed monk!"

"How was I supposed to know?" Sanzo yelled back, glaring at Gojyo. "And besides, she doesn't have a way of getting us there in the first place!" Kanzeon's smile grew wider at this. Sanzo knew he should have just kept his mouth shut.

With a wave of her hand like some old movie cliche, they were transported to Earth.

* * *

"What the…?" Goku jumped and looked around, squinting at the sudden brightness of noon.

Kanzeon was still with them and was grinning mischievously. She handed Sanzo a newspaper. "The instruction is all there." She smiled. "The door to the house is that way," she said, pointing to her left. The foursome looked. It was then that they realized that they were transported to the large front yard of a fairly large house. It could be a mansion, but it was too simple for it. "Good luck!"

"Wait!" called Hakkai, but he was too late. Kanzeon was gone with a spark. Silence ensued the departure, and a sense of disbelief emanating from all those present, including Hakuryuu. Hakkai turned to his companions, smiling as usual. "Yare, yare desune… Let's get it over with, shall we?"

* * *

Kanzeon watched from her endless field of lotus as the four walked up to the house and rang the doorbell. They were welcomed in without question, for each side knew the Prophecy. She clapped her hands. "Now… only one more to deal with!"

curiouzkatt: comments greatly accepted… I'd like to hear from critics, too if there are still any…


	2. Linlin Kazuya

**Summer Snow**

curiouzkatt: Pardon if I don't get to mention the charats at the beginning of this, I just have to give character background info first.

I know I need a lot of improvements in my writing and I'd like to hear them… just no flames please… constructive critics are very much welcome!

Note: I made my character even before I knew Saiyuki… it's purely coincidental.. pardon if there are still any html tags uncleaned... it's hard to shift from to fanfic sites...

DISCLAIMER: (plays tape)I do not own Saiyuki. I do not own Saiyuki. I do not own Saiyuki. I do not own Saiyuki. I do not own Saiyuki. I do not own Saiyuki. I do not own Saiyuki. I do not own Saiyuki. I do not own Saiyuki. I do not own Saiyuki. I do not own Saiyuki. I do not own Saiyuki. I do not own Saiyuki. I do not own Saiyuki. I do not own Saiyuki. I do not own Saiyuki. I do not own Saiyuki. I do not own Saiyuki. ( I think it's broken… oh well… brings out claws)

* * *

Chapter One: Linlin Kazuya

_"Linlin…"_ the voice was calling her again. The blond girl turned around, searching for its source. Unable to locate it, she started to walk through the dark hallway. It was no ordinary hallway, for every sound she made was absorbed – swallowed by the darkness.

_"Linlin…"_sapphire-blue eyes searched the dark hallway once more, only to find nothing. She started to run, the sound of her footsteps unheard. She knew that voice… it was her brother Alex... Alex was calling her.

"Alex!" she called out, but there was no answer. "Alex!"

_"Linlin…"_the voice called once more._"Remember…"_

"Alex!"

"LINLIN KAZUYA!"

Linlin jolted from sleep and came face to face with her teacher's pointer. She glanced at her Math teacher and decided to focus on the end of the stick instead. She knew her teacher was furious and she'd rather not face the fire directly. Math wasn't one of her favorite subjects, and at this rate, it never will be. The teacher finally flicked the pointer away and Linlin was forced to look at her. She was scowling darkly.

"I expected more from you, Miss Kazuya… why, you're not even in your uniform! You make yourself look like a boy!" the teacher ranted, starting to fix her things. (_"Here she goes again..."_ Linlin thought.) "Your family is well-known around here… you shouldn't humiliate the name at all!" she gave an air as she stepped out of the classroom and gave one final look. "I'll see you in detention."

Linlin sighed. She didn't give a damn about school. It was only a formality. She now regretted being broken in early, learning things ahead of everyone else. _Damned tutors!_ She was beginning to doze off again when her raven haired friend Ryoko called her attention.

"Tough luck." she said, returning to her comic book awhile before giving her full attention. "I guess we'll have to work on the project without you." Linlin wasn't sure if her friend was being sarcastic. Either way, she always spoke in that manner. "Incoming."

"You just _love_ seeing others suffer, don't you?" Linlin looked up, finding the most annoying girl in school smirking at her – Maria Ingram. "Little miss know-it-all!" Maria would've gotten the satisfaction she wanted if she got the blonde mad, but the girl was asleep once again.

Mayumi, Linlin's soft-spoken, red haired friend, laughed quietly. "Um, I guess she found you boring." She ducked in time when Maria threw something at her.

"Our English teacher is here!" everyone else went back to their seats, Ryoko set aside her manga and Linlin even abandoned the dreamland. Everyone knew there was going to be a blunder, and they knew it would be soon.

"Good afternoon class!" the Miss Mala greeted, swishing her hair with such exaggeration and ended tripping face first on the cement floor with an ungraceful thud.

"I'm okay!" the teacher faintly said and the others laughed at this while Ryoko and Linlin sweatdropped. How could she say she was fine when her nose was bleeding? They watched as two of their classmates helped to get her to the clinic. Once out of earshot, some students started to cheer. It was the last class for the day, and they just have to wait for the signal to go home.

"Mayumi, maybe we should start on the model," Linlin suggested, bringing out their small model of a house from under her desk. "I have to be in detention in an hour."

Mayumi, Ryoko, Linlin and their other group mate, Mili worked in silence. Although they needed to expand the time, they weren't getting as far as they wanted. For one thing, Mili was accident-prone and they seem to end up cleaning than actually working. Ryoko wasn't of much help either. She was too engrossed with the manga she was reading.

"Oops…"

"Aaaa….."

"Mili…." Linlin groaned, slightly annoyed with the slow progress. She then checked her watch. "I have to go."

Mayumi smiled apologetically at Linlin. "I'm sorry we didn't get as far as we should have."

"Don't worry! We'll finish this!" Mili interjected, her pigtailed curly black hair as bouncy as she was.. (Ryoko: Wai! Sanzo-sama! I adore you!) Mili sweatdropped. "I hope…." The three watched Linlin leave and continued their work. "You know, I kinda miss her smile… it doesn't show as often anymore."

"You can't blame her," Ryoko voiced out, finally finishing her manga. "Her brother died and she blames herself for it. No matter what we say, she won't listen…it's like clinging to the past." She glanced at their work. They will never finish this. "Like sleeping and not ever wanting to wake up." She snapped her fingers and the other two were suddenly asleep.

* * *

_"I will not sleep in class. I will not sleep in class. I will not sleep in class. I will not sleep in class. I will not sleep in class. I will not sleep in class. I will not…"_ Linlin paused from writing. This was making her sleepier.

"Why are you stopping?" the teacher demanded, breaking the silence in the room. "You are not yet done." Linlin wanted to reply, but her words were left unsaid.

BREEEP! BREEEEP, BREEEEP!

She fumbled for her phone and answered it. "Hi Mom…"

"Hi dear!" she heard her mom say, amidst unfamiliar voices issuing from the background. "Do you think you can excuse yourself from your friends? I need a few extra hands. Shun isn't here yet…"

"Give me…." Linlin glanced at her teacher who signaled 'thirty minutes'. "Thirty minutes… I'm in detention."

"Like there's anything new about that…" her mother said laughingly. "Okay, I'll give you forty minutes to get here. Bye! Love you!"

Linlin smiled. "Love you too mom." She locked the keypads and pocketed her phone. She could see from the corner of her eye that her teacher was pretending to hurl. Mrs. Techner hated mush. Those thirty minutes seemed to fly for her and soon, she found herself walking home. Spotting paintings in a shop reminded her of her friends, making her stop. _I have to tell them something came up._ She took out her phone and continued walking, bumping into someone in the process. "I'm so sorry! I wasn't ….looking." she had bumped into a boy who, judging by his uniform, seemed to be a fourth year from her school, Lion Mane.

"No problem," the boy said, giving Linlin a smile. Even his coal black eyes seemed to smile. Her face felt hot, but she didn't know why.

TAK!

Both of them looked down and found a small silver card. The boy bent over, picked it up and handed it to her. "Here, you dropped this." Linlin took it and realized it was a platinum credit card.

"Um, it's not mine," Linlin said, handing it back to the boy who looked at it for any identification.

"It reads Linlin Kazuya," he looked at her, bemused. "That's you, right?"

"Um, yeah… but…"

"Oh, my name's Jei by the way," he said then started to walk away. "See you around!" Linlin watched him leave, her argument stuck in her throat. She looked at the credit card in her hand once more.

"But it's not mine…."

Watching the lotus pond not too far away, Kanzeon smiled.

* * *

"Linlin!" her mother exclaimed, giving her a peck on the cheek. "Five minutes late." She noted cheerily, heading for the second floor. "Come, put your stuff in your room and help me fix the bedroom across…. That's where our guests are staying."

Linlin followed and looked around, noting a few "changes" on the walls. Bullet holes. She looked at her mom in askance. "Mom?" she called, sliding the door of her room open and placing her things beside the computer table, while her mother went in the guest room.

"Yes?" her mom replied, coming out of the guest room with used bed sheets. "What is it?"

"Why do the walls have bullet-like holes on them?" she didn't want to sound like a curious kid, but she couldn't help it. It wasn't everyday that you find your home full of them.

"Um…" her mother trailed off and handed her half of the sheets to carry to the laundry room. "One of our guests has a short temper."

Linlin's eyes widened. "We have a madman for a guest?" she didn't know that the "madman" she mentioned was just sitting in the living room, reading the newspaper.

Gojyo smirked. "Hey, I guess I found someone who agrees with me."

Sanzo continued flipping through the newspaper and ignored the red head completely.

"Hey madman! I'm talking to you!"

TZIING!

The shot was heard throughout the house and Linlin turned around, as if looking through walls and seeing Sanzo.

"I guess that was the madman."

"Linlin! That's not nice!" her mother scolded, getting the sheets and dumped them in the washer. "He's a monk."

"A WHAT?"

"He's a monk."

"No monk ever holds a gun!" Linlin argued, getting new sheets from the closet and came face to face with Sanzo on the way out. He arched an eyebrow.

"Is that so?" he said sarcastically. "Well, I'm an exception!"

Linlin just glared at him. He was handsome, no doubt about that, but she didn't like him at all.

Sanzo took the glare as a challenge and glared back. Moments passed and he found it quite silly so he brought out his fan and tapped her on the head. "Stupid girl."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY? YOU DROOPY-EYED MONK!" the girl yelled, and (exaggeration) flames surrounded the two as sparks were exchanged. The girl tore her gaze away and walked off to her room.

BLAG!

"Huh? Wha?"

"Goku!" Mrs. Kazuya exclaimed. "Where did you come from?"

The brown haired youth still seemed to be in a daze. "Uh, who's Goku?"

WHACK!

"Itai! Sanzo no kechi!"

Mrs. Kazuya sweatdrooped. "At least his memory's back…" she looked up the ceiling. Finding no possible place that Goku could have fallen from, she turned back to the boy. "Goku, where did you come from?" When the boy pointed to the ironing board, she assumed that the boy must've been covered with clothes unintentionally. "Well, since you're up, do you mind helping me?"

The boy smiled at her with cheerfulness and got on his feet with a leap. "Nope!"

* * *

Linlin turned her computer on and opened the Typing Tutorial with a vengeance. "Asshole…" she muttered. She worked in silence when the door adjoining hers and her brother's rooms opened. She turned, half-expecting her brother to be there. Of course that was impossible, but she still held on to the light of Hope, the words of the prophet in mind. But to her disappointment, it was only one of the guests. This one was black haired with emerald-green eyes. He seemed to have gone through a lot in his life. She turned back to her lesson then addressed the guest. "No one's allowed in that room… (but me)."

"Oh, I'm sorry…" the man said apologetically. His voice sounded very kind. "I was just looking around." He let his eyes wander about the room and looked back at the girl. "I'm Hakkai by the way, Cho Hakkai."

Linlin stopped typing and scrutinized Hakkai. "It's a weird name, but it's okay, I guess… I'm Linlin." Silence ensued after that exchange and only the soft tip-tap of Linlin's typing was heard. Hakkai decided to break the ice again.

"Er, who occupies that room?" he decided to ask. "It looks well-kept."

"Alex did." was the frank reply.

"Did?"

"He's gone."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…" Hakkai now regretted asking the question. Linlin now looked at him with hurt.

"You didn't mean to…" Linlin repeated. "You didn't know…. You shouldn't have asked." The girl stood up and went to the wooden balcony. Hakkai followed her. "Look. I don't want to talk about it… even though it happened a year ago, it still hurts."

"I know how you feel," Hakkai said, thinking of Kana.

"You DON'T know how I feel," Linlin yelled, surprising Hakkai. Her anger seemed the pass through him. "You don't know how sick I feel every time I remember that my brother died – because of me!"

"Linlin, I…"

"I know what you're going to say… you didn't know… you didn't mean to," Linlin's eyes were starting to fill with tears. She suppressed them and jumped on the overhanging tree branch, climbed down, and ran deep into their tree-filled backyard.

"Linlin!" knowing it was in vain, Hakkai sighed. He seemed to have gotten on the wrong side of everything..

"Let her be…" Hakkai turned to see Mrs. Kazuya by the doorway.

"But…"

"Let her be, give her time alone.." she told him. He could see the deep sadness in her eyes. "Talk to her when she gets back."

Hakkai looked back to where Linlin had run off to, then sighed. "If you say so…" Feeling Goku's presence, he looked around for the boy. He was down below, playing with the family dog, Sniper. He and Linlin would be about the same age…. And yet, they were so different. Goku acted like an eight- year old boy while Linlin acted much more mature for her age. It reminded him of something. "Mrs. Kazuya?" he looked but Mrs. Kazuya had left the room.

"Yes?" her voice called out from somewhere outside.

"Um, will Goku be going to school with Linlin?"

Goku, hearing the question, jumped up to the balcony. "School? Is that a restaurant?" he looked at the room. "Eh? Where's the girl? Sanzo asked me to watch her."

"She left."

"Uh-oh…. Sanzo's gonna be mad at me…" the boy said, shifting to an Indian sit, his chin resting on his hands and a pout on his face.

Hakkai laughed. "Then don't tell him," he suggested.

"What's a school?"

"It's a place where you learn things," Mrs. Kazuya answered, entering the room and placing a bag down. "Since you're staying with us for a while, you're going to school with Linlin."

The boy pondered it for a moment. "Hmm, it sounds kind of boring, but I guess I'll give it a shot." He smiled at Mrs. Kazuya just as another thought entered his mind. "When are we going to eat?"


	3. Under the Stars

**Summer Snow**

curiouzkatt: yay!

Disclaimer: curiouzkatt is tied by M. K. and is hung over a pit of houndooms and houndours Alright already! I don't own Saiyuki! M.K. still lowers her down Oh, for crying out loud! Minekura Kazuya does!

* * *

Chapter Two: Under the Stars

Sanzo stepped onto the backyard. The chaos those two idiots were making was a bit too much. He saw Linlin climb up the kiosk and hide behind the big tree trunk. She didn't seem to have noticed him. He recalled having asked Goku to watch the girl. Now he had a reason to hit the boy with the fan. Having overheard Hakkai and Mrs. Kazuya, he assumed that the girl was upset about something about the past. He silently walked towards the kiosk. Without a second thought, he said aloud:

"You're running away from the past,"

Linlin looked down at him with a neutral expression. She looked away. "Leave me alone." Even though she said this to him, he didn't move. Instead, he took out his lighter and his pack of cigarettes. He took a stick and lighted it. "That's not good for your health." He heard her say.

"Ch! Why do _you_give a damn?" he replied. "I'm a madman, remember?" he puffed out a breath of smoke and looked up at the night sky, thinking _how_ this whole thing would end up. He could already see that this wasn't going well at all. That old woman in Tenkai sure is insane.

(somewhere in Tenkai…

Kanzeon Bosatsu: AAAACHOOO!)

"Hey, madman… I'm talking to you…"

He looked back at the girl. She still wasn't looking at him. "Stop calling me by that name."

"Why should I?" Linlin responded. "You yourself said you were a madman." A long silence followed, and neither one was eager to start a conversation. Sanzo quietly smoked, knowing better than to start a conversation. If the girl didn't want to speak, then he doesn't give a damn. But he had to admit, the night sky was clear, and a lot of stars were out. He would never admit it, but he missed sleeping on the jeep in the middle of nowhere, at ease with the world even with the threat of demons ambushing them at every corner.

Linlin looked up the sky. She always thought it was pretty, with all the stars sparkling, like shiny beads on a jet-black cloth. She also believed that, somewhere in those stars, was her brother Alex, smiling down at her. The wind started to blow lightly, stealing away the stillness of the night. But still, neither Sanzo nor Linlin moved.

* * *

"Linlin!" Goku called out, hopping from tree to tree. He was hoping to find her soon. He wasn't sure where Sanzo had gone, but he was hoping to find Linlin before the monk knew he didn't do his job. "Linlin!" He jumped onto another tree and spotted the blonde at last. He jumped several more trees and presented himself in front of the girl. "There you are! Mrs. Kazuya asked me to fetch you for dinner." He moved to jump off the tree. "Um, don't tell Sanzo I lost you… he will be mad at me again."

"Right," although she sounded a bit sarcastic, Goku jumped off down to the kiosk, then finally to solid ground.

WHACKKK!

….. only to get hit by a fan.

Sanzo looked down at the saru who held the nasty bump on his head. He tapped the fan on his other hand threateningly. "What were you NOT going to tell me?"

Linlin sighed, just when a memory flickered in her mind.

_"Don't worry! We'll finish this!"_

_"Wai! Sanzo-sama! I adore you!"_

Wait, did the boy say Sanzo a while ago? Linlin shook her head. She didn't want to think of what was happening – yet.

Linlin ate very little that supper and excused herself to go to bed early; amidst comments of concern and that it was a Friday. She ignored them and stayed at the corner of her balcony. She reflected the things that happened during supper, the family's awe at Goku's hunger, the arguments between Goku and the one called Gojyo, Sanzo's fan-hitting frenzy, and Hakkai's speed at cooking. They were quite an unusual group – quite contrasting in character if she might add. She stifled a yawn…_"Life's going to be different for a while…_ she thought, dozing off to sleep.

She was flying – floating amongst the clouds. She just hoped that no one would call her name for the time being, or she would plunge back to her body, and it wasn't a nice feeling. Clouds were starting to surround her, as she began to hear Alex's voice again. She was sure her brother's spirit was trying to tell her something, she just didn't know what.

_"Linlin…"_ Alex called out to his sister from Tenkai. He frowned at how disembodied his voice sounded. He turned to Jiroushin. "Why can't my voice sound normal? It's so weird and I think I'm creeping out my sis at some point." Jiroushin was ready to answer, but Kanzeon Bosatsu beat him to it.

"I don't think your sister is freaked by it,"

"That didn't answer my question."

The goddess just smiled. "Don't you think it's more fun this way?"

Alex sweatdropped, running a hand through his blond hair. He leaned over to Jiroushin. "Is she always like this?"

"Much worse," Jiroushin replied. "Much worse."

"Er, okay…. How can I tell Linlin anything if my voice keeps echoing? I can't even make a single decent sentence out."

"You don't have to," Kanzeon answered, giving him her usual confident smile. "She'll know soon enough."

* * *

"She'll know soon enough and that's it…" Sanzo returned to his paper while Goku still stared at him.

"Just give it a rest, Goku," Gojyo butted in, kicking Goku's chair.

Goku pouted moved his chair away and muttered something about not understanding adults. He turned to Hakkai who was doing the dishes. "Na, Hakkai, what do you think?"

"I think Sanzo has a point…" the younger man said, pausing from wiping the dishes to look at Goku. "Although I have to apologize to her…"

"Why? Did you do something bad?" Goku asked, his curiosity up a little.

"Ahaha… sort of…" replied Hakkai, setting aside the last plate. "Goku, would kindly put these on the top cabinet? I have to look for Linlin before she sleeps."

Goku obliged, carrying more than "normal". "But she already went up to sleep an hour ago." He said, remembering that Linlin left the table early – leaving more food for him.

"Oh, she's not yet sleeping… you can bet on that." Hakkai said then exited the room.

"Better not, Goku," Gojyo advised. "You know Hakkai always wins at gambling." He inched closer the saru's chair, a mischievous grin on his lips.

"I won't…" said Goku, backing away from his finished job. This was what Gojyo was waiting for. Before Goku touched his chair, he pulled it away, making the saru fall on his behind. "ITAIII! THAT WASN"T FUNNY GOJYO!" The boy lunged for the red head, the two engulfed in a squabbling dust.

"Kono ero kappa!"

"Brain-stomach-monkey!"

"STOP IT, BOTH OF YOU!"

"Water monster!"

"Baka saru!"

WHACKKKK! WHACKKKK!

* * *

Linlin paused to listen. Alex's voice stopped calling. Strange, it doesn't usually stop until she woke up. The clouds were still enveloping her, but no sound came through them.

"Linlin!"

That wasn't Alex's voice – that was Hakkai's! The sudden call from reality made everything around her start to vanish and she started to fall back to her body. She awoke, shaking from head to toe. She scolded herself for being half-awake.

"Linlin… there you are," Hakkai said, sounding quite relieved when he found the girl. He wasn't sure if she had ran off somewhere again. He noticed that the girl was shaking badly. He quickly took a blanket from her room and wrapped it around her. She was scowling at him again. He sighed. "I seem to be getting on your bad side…" No answer. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

He saw the she was a little surprised and tried to speak with chattering teeth. "H-how d-did y-you know I was sleeping?"

He walked over to the ledge and leaned on it, still facing Linlin. "Ever heard of the saying 'Never make noise around a place where someone is sleeping?'"

"I thought that was only for hospitals." Linlin said, still shaking. At least her voice wasn't anymore. She didn't sound mad at him anymore either. "And I thought it only applied when you called the name of the person."

"That, too." Hakkai answered. He suddenly turned around, sensing something among the trees. His green eyes searching, he continued to talk to Linlin. "Sorry about this afternoon… I shouldn't have brought out the topic." The thing he was trying to follow suddenly stopped.

"It's okay…" Linlin answered, searching the trees with her eyes as well. She had noticed Hakkai's wariness and wanted to see what was wrong, continuing the conversation. "I feel like I'm holding on, and yet I'm running away from the past."

"It seems to me that you're torn between the two."

_Well she won't be as torn as Goku when I'm through with him!_

Nocturnal eyes flashed in the darkness of the trees, followed by a blood-curdling inhuman scream. Before either of them could react, the figure jumped to the balcony and into the house. Hakkai and Linlin followed, avoiding the wreck the thing had made on its way to the kitchen. They could hear yells and clashes coming from the room. Reaching the doorway, they found a cat-like being fighting with Goku. The creature kept slashing with its claws and Goku kept blocking, still looking for an opening. At this rate, no winner would be decided.

Linlin just watched, while Hakkai explained what happened upstairs. She watched and spotted a stray bottle behind Goku. "Look out!" But her warning was too late. Goku fell over and the cat was ready to pounce. It was then that Linlin got to get a good look at the creature. It had long unruly black hair. It had all the features of a human, except for the cat-like claws and attitude. It was also a she. Before she could attack, a dark shadow blocked Goku. It was Sniper. Although the cat was bigger, it cowered as the dog growled, inching his way towards the cat. Sniper gave a loud bark and the cat went for the nearest window. Silence followed and she could feel everyone calming down. Pieces of shattered glass now littered the kitchen floor, the night regaining its calm. The dog stopped barking and ran to the dining room. Linlin followed and found Alex's twin petting their big dog. "Shun!"

Shun looked up at his sister and smiled. "Sorry I'm late." He stood up, noticing Goku, Gojyo, Sanzo and Hakkai. "Um…."

"They're visitors," Linlin explained. "Mom's visitors." She pointed them out one at a time. "The brown haired one is Goku, then the tall one is Gojyo (he and Goku always argue about something), the monk over there is Sanzo and the one wearing green is Hakkai." Linlin then pointed to her brother. "This here, is Shun… my older brother."

"Nice to meet you," Shun said sincerely.

"Nice is good, but what happened here?"

Mrs. Kazuya stared at the "assembly" in the room, still bleary-eyed. She walked to the kitchen and gave a horrified gasp.

The sibling looked at each other, "Oops."

Wearing overalls and hands covered with suds, Hakkai, Goku, Gojyo and even Sanzo, worked in cleaning the kitchen and the dining room. Shun worked in fixing the things the 'cat' had broken and replaced some wallpapers with Mrs. Kazuya's help. Linlin on the other hand, ran errands, getting things for her mom, brother and the foursome.

"Ya know," Gojyo began, finishing with his side and threw his cloth and sponge to Goku (HEY!) "It's kinda nice to see the corrupt monk working for once."

"Better keep it down or you'll find yourself with more work," Goku said, sweeping the floor free from the shards of glass. "Hey, that cat person was strong, wasn't she? This is so cool!" Being ignored by Gojyo, he kept quiet then went near the red head and 'accidentally' hit him with the handle of his broom. "Oops, _sorry_."

"Why you little twerp!" Gojyo dropped what he was doing and went to strangle Goku, who was quick on his feet and ran around the room

Linlin let out a resigned sigh and continued her job in the living room of sorting out whatever she could salvage from what that creature – and Goku wrecked. Placing the last batch of "still good" plates on a chair, she didn't notice the tv remote and accidentally pressed the power button.

**"…security vault of our finest bank has been raided. Oddly, _nothing_**** was stolen, except for a sapphire jewel. They are currently searching for explosive residues and any sign of bomb fragments."**

**"...young sleuths Jei Murikawa and Haku Keisuke are assigned to work on this case…."**

_Jei! _Linlin turned her eyes to the TV. Sure enough, it was the boy she had met. Deep black eyes and brown hair. _But how come he knows who I am?_

"Ooh, it's the Murikawa kid!" she heard her mother exclaim. Linlin turned to the doorway, giving her mother a look of surprise. "He's a senior at your school, isn't he? They say he already solved twenty cases and hasn't missed a single one!" Her mother gave her a small smile. "I also heard he has already earned a position in the police force once he graduates." Linlin just stared. "You should watch the news more, you know…"

TZING! TZING!

Both mother and daughter jumped at the sound of gunshots, turning their heads to the sound before turning back to each other. Linlin shrugged. "I won't be surprised if the ceiling falls on his head one of these days…" Her mother laughed a little, then asked her to go upstairs with her for she wanted to show her something. Getting to her parents' bedroom, Linlin waited as her mother rummaged in the closet.

"You're birthday's still far off, but I want you to try this on, just to see if it really fits you…" She handed her a brown box. She opened it and found a blue fighting dress inside. "Your Uncle Seth left it before he left for another one of his missions. He told me to give it to you on your birthday, but I couldn't wait."

"Thanks mom."

Sanzo watched the two run around in and out the kitchen and the dining room, a vein visible on his temples. "Ch! We're never get anything done with these two idiots fooling around…" He sat on one of the chairs and just looked at the two 'idiots', following them with his eyes.

Hakkai just laughed and placed back the last plates in the cupboard. He would ask Sanzo to help him, but thought better than to try. "But believe it or not, Mrs. Kazuya likes it this way…" Hakkai said, keeping the brooms in one of the kitchen closets. "She says she hasn't had this much fun since her husband's brother was staying here with them."

"Brother?"

"STOP IT, THE TWO OF YOU!"

Sanzo and Hakkai both turned to the doorway and found Linlin wearing a sky blue long-sleeved Chinese style dress, and scowling darkly at Goku and Gojyo, who, by this time had Goku in a headlock. But once they saw her, they stopped everything and just stared.

"Mmpf…"

"Aha…"

and laughed…

"BWAHAHAHAHA!"

"It's not funny!" Linlin protested. "Stop it!"

"At least you look attractive for once!"

"Shut up Gojyo!" Linlin demanded. It wasn't what they thought. It was a dress meant for fighting, that's why the design had tights underneath. That's why her black shoes were flat for quick movement!

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" but they laughed nonetheless.

Out of all the commotion, Linlin's mother peeked inside unnoticed and called Hakkai out. After a while, Hakkai came back wearing his old clothes, minus the white cloth. He smiled sheepishly and asked Linlin to come with him. Out in the hallway, Hakkai told her that he was asked to go grocery shopping for they already ran out of food, but he wasn't sure where to go. "So can you accompany me?"

"Um, okay," Linlin said, following Hakkai out the door, and if they were going to walk. They would definitely look like a Chinese costume parade. she was considering going back to her room to change, but they would just get delayed, judging from the amount they had to buy to satisfy a certain someone.

"Oi… matte!" Goku ran after them while trying to wear a jacket. "I'm coming, too!"

"KYU!"

Linlin was quite surprised to see a _dragon_. It flew towards Hakkai and landed on his shoulder. Hakkai smiled when he saw her surprised look.

"This is Hakuryu," Hakkai introduced. "Hakuryu, this is Linlin. Would you be so kind as to get us to where we need to go?"

"Kyu!" the little dragon answered and transformed into a small green right-hand drive jeep.

Linlin shook her head. Things were starting to get really weird. She watched as Goku jumped on the back seat, and Hakkai on the driver's seat.

"Linlin, shall we go?"

Linlin walked to the left side and sat on the passenger seat, to direct Hakkai as they went. "Just drive straight this road and then right at the stoplight."

"Roger," Hakkai said cheerily and stepped on the gas. He wasn't sure how the roads here were, but he assumed that he'll eventually get the hang of it.

"Not so fast!" Linlin yelled and didn't get to warn Hakkai to turn right at the stoplight. Hakkai was driving so fast that she feared of how many driving laws they have broken – so far. They have passed too many stoplights already. "Hakkai! Stop!" All too eager, Hakkai hit the breaks at once, sending Goku to fly forward, and into the bushes. "Goku!" Hearing a faint 'I'm fine', Linlin sighed with relief. She looked around and realized that they have reached the mall across town.

It was a grocery place that was very much close to nature, refusing to cut down trees. It gave the place a welcoming, and yet sometimes at dusk, an eerie look. "Oh well, might as well shop here…" As the sun began to move into that comfortable and warm afternoon, the three figures moved into the mall, their thoughts on the task at hand, but even the trees whisper that this is only the beginning of the larger story, larger than anyone could ever imagine.


	4. School Life

**Summer Snow**

* * *

Chapter Four: School Life

"As you people already know, Son Goku here will be staying with us for a few months," the teacher said matter-of-factly. Everyone in the room clapped and cheered for the new student. Even though he was the one being mentioned, Goku wasn't exactly listening. He was looking about the room, which was simply a classroom but he looked around with curiosity. "But what our principal didn't mention," the teacher started again. "….that I will be retiring by the end of this week and you will now be permanently handled by none other than Mr. Genjo Sanzo…. Starting today."

Hearing this, some protested while others cheered silently – but some squealed in delight. Linlin sweatdropped. She knew that their time with Sanzo was going to be like a time spent with the deuce – and she would rather spend time with the real deuce.

When Sanzo heard the announcement, he slid the classroom door open and stepped inside. He surveyed the students and sighed inwardly. Why did he have to handle more idiots? No one was paying attention to the teacher in front and the noise of the students was starting to get on his nerves.

Linlin, seeing that the monk was going to get pissed off, covered her ears and ducked.

_Three….. Two….. One….._

**TZIIIING! TZIIIING!**

The room was frozen silent.

"AAAAA! A MADMAN!" some yelled, almost ready to run.

"SOMEONE CALL THE COPS!"

Chaos was imminent.

Linlin looked at her watch. "Ten seconds in the classroom and he already fires his gun…" she rolled her eyes. "Great."

A group of students gathered around Sanzo and started to pelt him with questions.

"Cool gun.. Where'd you get it?"

-"That's none of your business."

"Can I hold it?"

-"No."

"You have a chakra… are you a monk?"

-"Why do you give a damn?"

The teacher parted the students, looking very furious. Sanzo just looked at her. She grabbed his gun and placed it in her bag. (Sanzo: Hey!) "I'll confiscate this!" she handed her a pointer stick. "Make do with this!" she said and marched out of the room. Sanzo sweatdropped. At least he still had his paper fan….

* * *

"Sir! Why do some people do bad things?" one student asked. She was shaking nervously. "Is-is it because they find pleasure in doing so?"

Sanzo leaned on the table behind him. The girl fainted. He ignored this and answered the question. "Well, only those who are deranged find pleasure in doing bad things…."

(Gyokumen Koushii: achew!)

"….But mostly, they do it out of ignorance of the law – and everything else." He said then brought out his paper fan, hitting Goku with it.

"Itai! What was that for?" Goku scowled at Sanzo. "Oops… sorry _sensei_."

Sanzo continued his lecture, but mostly it was a discussion. Along the way, he had hit twenty-five out of thirty students with his fan, Linlin included.

"You stupid monk!" she yelled at him. "You have no right!"

Sanzo was unfazed by this outburst and answered calmly. "Well, _you _don't have the right to sleep in class. Detention." Linlin submitted to her punishment and sat back down with a thump. She didn't want to give Maria the satisfaction of seeing her mad, but Sanzo didn't vibe with her at all.

Next was gym class. They had a practicum that day and it was to go through their former military coach's infamous obstacle course. Most of them groaned, but Linlin silently warmed up on the sidelines. She never admitted it to anyone, but the obstacle course was her favorite.

"Hmph!" she heard someone say. "Another obstacle course! It's obvious who's going to perfect it – again! That Kazuya girl… she always does." Linlin ignored them. It wasn't true – she was just good at it.

On the other side of the field by the fence, Goku sat surrounded by boys who pelted him with questions. He wanted to sleep badly, but their questioning won't let him.

"Are your parents anime fans?"

-"Um…."

"Is that gold on your head?"

-"I don't know."

"Is Linlin your cousin?"

-"Huh?"

"Where'd you get your contact lenses?"

-"Contact lenses? Are they edible?"

"Are you related to our Philosophy teacher?"

-"He's my guardian – I think."

"Hey look! It's that snob, Maria Ingram's turn!" one of the boys exclaimed, pointing at the girl. "I'm betting my lunch that she'll finish the obstacle course in ten minutes!"

"You give her too much credit! I'm betting she'll finish it in **fifteen** minutes!"

"You're on!"

Goku looked as well and realized that it was almost Linlin's turn. He was wondering if she was as good as he sensed her to be. That Maria girl was arguing with the coach, who wouldn't hear any of it. Goku's thoughts were disturbed by more questions.

"What kind of food do you like?"

-"ALL!"

"Are you good at sports?"

-"Hmm, I'm good at fighting…. So, maybe." He looked away from his interviewers and watched as Linlin prepared at the starting point.

"Ready, Miss Kazuya?" when Linlin nodded, the teacher raised his flag, paused and yelled. "GO!"

Goku watched as Linlin passed through the tire obstacle with ease and climb the wall obstacle without even slipping. Even the hurdles were conquered without difficulty. Swinging from one pole to the next wasn't even a challenge. She went over the mud pool by climbing the monkey bars and did a cartwheel on the last part. "Sugoi!" he exclaimed, clapping with the rest. Their coach was even teary-eyed with pride. "How'd she get to be so good?" he asked to no one in particular.

"There's a rumor that her parents had her and her brothers trained when they were still very young," someone said from the other side of the fence. Goku looked behind him and saw a boy who seemed to be from the higher years. He also seemed to be dead serious. "Such agility…" he added, more to himself than to Goku.

"Do you know her?" Goku asked. This brown-haired stranger had caught his attention by the reigns.

"Not personally," the other boy answered. "But I _am_ a detective."

"Really?"

"Really," answered the boy. "And you must be the new student, Son Goku of class 3-A."

"Yup!" Goku answered, smiling at the boy. "That's me! But what's your name?"

"Jei Murikawa."

"Hey Goku! You're next!" the coach called out.

Goku turned to the coach. "Hai!" he looked back to bid good-bye to his new friend, but he was gone. "Huh? Where'd he go?"

"GOKU!"

"Hai!"

Linlin sat under a tree nearby and watched Goku run to the starting point. During the few times that Linlin was with him, she couldn't help but feel such power coming from the boy. She wasn't sure, but she felt that Goku was a very good fighter, even though he was childish.

"GO!"

Goku ran through the tire obstacle with ease and _jumped_ over the wall obstacle. Linlin's sapphire-blue eyes were wide with disbelief. He had leaped over ten hurdles and jumped on top of the poles instead of swinging using a rope. It took him only one jump on the monkey bars to get to the finish line. Linlin's jaw dropped. Compared to his, hers turned out to be kid's stuff.

"WAY TO GO, GOKU!" someone yelled, and everyone started to cheer and carried Goku away. Linlin still couldn't believe it. Mili and Mayumi went up to her.

"Where _were_ you yesterday?" Mili said. "You didn't come back, and we fell asleep."

"You what?" Linlin wasn't sure if she heard correctly.

"We fell asleep because of waiting…." Mayumi explained. "Even Ryoko left us. The guard was the one who woke us up and handed us our finished project. Ryoko must have finished it on her own." Linlin thought this odd, but kept it to herself. "Why didn't you come back anyway?"

"Uhm, my cousin and some of his friends came yesterday, and I had to help my mom fix things up for them." Linlin explained as they followed the entourage into the building. "Where's Ryoko by the way?" Linlin asked as they hurried to change to get to their next class. "I didn't see her at first period."

"Oh, we didn't tell you yet… she's out to a computer quiz bee contest in the division level…" Mayumi answered. "She'll be in and out of class this week I guess…"

Their next class was History and Linlin considered skipping it. But remembering she already had detention, she thought otherwise. Instead, she just looked at the rolling clouds and occasionally threw balls of paper at Goku to wake him up. But on the last fifteen minutes of class, she gave up. Goku wouldn't budge anymore. She just had to wait for the school bell to ring.

"Goku,"

The boy ignored whoever was calling him… he was having a nice dream. An all-you-can-eat buffet after a good fight.

"GOKU IT"S LUNCH TIME!"

Goku was on his feet at once. He registered what was just said to him and ran out of the classroom.

"Hey Goku! Wait up!" Linlin called out, but the boy was out of sight. She sighed and rubbed her temples. "Oh boy…"

She found him resting in one of the tables in the cafeteria beside a tall pile of plates and trays. No one else was in there. That made sense, for the canteen was totally out of food. She sat across him and brought out her own lunch and the lunch her mom asked her to bring for Goku. She offered it to him. "Still have room for this?" The moment she had asked, the box was out of her hands and its contents were devoured in an instant. She sweatdropped. "Where do you put all that food?"

Goku shrugged. "I'm just hungry… that's all," he said then pondered for a moment. "Come to think of it, I may still be making up for the 500 years that I didn't eat."

Linlin choked on her food. "WHAT?"

"He was locked up in mount Gogyo for 500 years,"

Linlin turned to see Sanzo still sporting his paper fan. "**500 **years? You must be joking!"

"Unfortunately, I'm not," Sanzo answered and whacked Goku on the head with his paper fan "You idiot! My credit card is worth nothing in this place!" He kept hitting the boy with the fan until he was satisfied. "Ch! You'll have to wash dishes here until you've paid off your debt."

"He won't have to," Linlin interjected, bringing out the credit card that had fallen out of nowhere. She handed it to Sanzo. "Here, use it…" When he gave her a skeptical look, she continued: "Believe it or not, I don't own that."

Sanzo looked it over and spotted a telltale sign of the card's origin. It had the same 'Three Buddhas' logo – except that it was silver. It was from Kanzeon Bosatsu. He pocketed it and took the saru by the ear (ITAI! ITAI!). "I'll give it back after we deal with the cafeteria staff."

"Take your time," Linlin said. When the two were out of sight, someone entered the cafeteria. She didn't bother to look. "The cafeteria's closed."

"I know,"

_That voice_

"Jei!" Linlin exclaimed. She could feel her heart beat faster, but she maintained her usual composure. She turned her attention back to her food as he came and took the seat across the table.

"Why are you here alone?" he asked, then smiled. "The cafeteria's closed…"

"I was with Goku," Linlin answered a little bit flatly. But Jei didn't seem to notice.

"Where is he now?" he inquired, now marveling at the tall stack of trays and plates. "Did he eat all this?"

"Yes, he ate all of that," Linlin answered. "He's with Sanzo right now… to apologize and to pay the bill." She was expecting him to nod inquisitively, but instead, he laughed outright. _He's weird._

"By the way, that was a great performance this morning," he commented, respect deep in his coal black eyes. "That was quite a feat!"

Linlin tried her best to hide the blush that was creeping to her face. "Thanks," she mumbled, keeping her lunch box and the one Goku had emptied.

"Where did you learn such moves?" he asked. "I doubt that any tutor would teach those." Linlin's defensive mode was starting to bubble up. How did he know she had tutors? Not many people know that. It wasn't that a big of a secret, but she somehow felt invaded.

"Our Uncle Seth taught us a some tricks a few summers back," Linlin confided. "He's in the army. Actually, I want to be in the army myself."

"Really now…" Jei said, mentally taking down notes. His case may still be in pieces, but just maybe, these bits would fit somewhere. He wasn't sure why Linlin of all people… but he had a gut feeling. "Why the interest?"

Linlin shrugged. "I don't know….ever since I was little, I just wanted to…." She told him. "Don't you ever get that feeling? To like something for no reason at all?" Jei was slightly taken aback. There was a very strong passion when she said those words.

BRIIIIIIINGGGG!

She stood up. "I'll see you around then." She gave him a slight bow and left, leaving him alone with his possible clues.

_"Just because, huh?"_

* * *

Science period…

"Okay class," their stout teacher began. "To your groups." When she saw that Goku didn't move, she assigned him to the third group, Maria Ingram's group.

Maria rolled her eyes. Why did she have to get stuck with Linlin's cousin? As if having both of them as her classmates wasn't bad enough! Linlin didn't have a care in the world and was always sleeping in class and now, mister always hungry comes along. As the lesson progressed, they had to test a chemical and it's effectivity against plant pests. She let the smarts of their group work it out… their grades would all be the same anyway. When her group-mate handed her the bottle of chemical to pour, she looked at it with disgust and handed it to the person beside her. "You do it."

"Okay," Maria gasped when she realized who the person was. "Am I supposed to drink this?"

"Goku! No!" Maria screeched, but it was too late… Goku had drunk the liquid. Everyone else watched with bated breath.

Goku burped, then smiled. "Mmm, yummy,"

Everyone stared in disbelief. What the heck was his stomach made out of? Titanium? Almost everyone sighed in relief with the knowledge that Goku was all right. But one can't help but wonder… was he even human?

Linlin wasn't sure she could still breathe. She was really reconsidering about trying to convince her mom to let Goku stay at home. This was all too much! She watched as their chemistry teacher lecture Goku. Maybe she still had time to sleep…

* * *

Gojyo sighed as he wandered around the house. He had just finished roaming outside, and now, he was exploring the underground garage. It was quite dark and he tripped on something, starting a domino effect. A series of clangs and crashes ensued, ending the whole mess with a layer of thick dust. "cough Ow, ow owwww," he muttered, touching his forehead. He surveyed what he could of the mess. Mrs. Kazuya wasn't going to be happy…

"Gojyo!" Hakkai called out from the staircase. "Are you all right?"

"Peachy," he mumbled and got up. Lights blared from above and Gojyo stared at what was before him. A jet-black limousine, a dark blue BMW, and a red Mitsubishi. He rubbed his eyes, thinking he might be seeing an illusion. Nope. He wasn't. The cars seemed to have been unused for quite a while for a fair layer of dust covered them. He didn't notice that the hood of the Mitsubishi was destroyed due to the domino effect earlier. He looked them over and found something covered at the corner of the garage. He took off the cover to find three brand new motorbikes underneath. He whistled. "Wow…"

"I see you found the cars," Mrs. Kazuya said, following after Hakkai and looked at the ruined Mitsubishi. She had a gleam in her eyes that he didn't like at all. She turned to Hakkai. "Hakkai, tell Hakuryu he's on vacation starting today."

* * *

Goku entered the detention room with Linlin. He was as surprised as her to find the room full, with only two seats left for them. Even Jei was there and waved a 'hello' to both of them. He noticed that Linlin was red. Odd, it wasn't that warm… They went to their seats, doing their best not to make a sound. It was his first time at detention and he was curious. When he learned that people don't do anything in detention, he looked around, several familiar faces and a few new ones. He was starting to get bored already, and the silence was starting to lull him to sleep.

WHACK!

"Itai!"

"No sleeping."

"Mou."

* * *

Maria stepped out of the school with a flare, and looked out for her chaperone. But what greeted her was something she least expected. A sleek limousine was parked at the entrance – and it wasn't hers. Whose was it? She waited with her friends to see who owned that luxurious looking car. Unfortunately, it wasn't who she expected either…. Linlin.

"Here they come!" Mrs. Kazuya exclaimed. "Get to your post, Gojyo!"

Gojyo sighed in defeat. He obligingly stepped out of the limousine, wearing a chaperone's outfit, complete with all the necessary paraphernalia. He tried to hide his face with the cap, but humiliation was inevitable.

"G-gojyo!" it was the saru's voice… he's gonna get it now…."What the heck are you wearing?"

"Shut up and get in the car…."

"BWAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Stop it, you stupid monkey!" he finally looked up and realized that several students were staring at them. He turned red and opened the door for Linlin, Sanzo and Goku. When the three were in, he closed their door, seated himself in the passenger seat and slammed his door shut.

"Mom, why did you use the limo?" Linlin demanded, she knew her mother well, and this was very unlike her. "I don't need a chaperone."

"Oh, I'm sorry dear…" her mom began. "Hakkai will take the BMW instead."

"Mom…."

"It's just a punishment for Gojyo… he broke your dad's Mitsubishi."

"Makes sense," Sanzo butted in. "But usually it's Goku who causes mishap."

"That's not true!" Goku complained.

"You droopy-eyed monk!" Gojyo said, turning from his seat at the front. "How dare you compare me to this saru?"

"Maa, maa! Stop it you guys!" Hakkai intervened as he drove. He was also wearing a uniform. "Mind your manners, Gojyo, or your punishment won't be lifted." He glanced at the rear view mirror, searching for Linlin. "I hope Goku didn't give you much trouble…"

"Oh, no… he was just fine today," Linlin answered sarcastically. "He got whacked twenty times in Philosophy, impressed our coach to high heavens, slept through History, put the cafeteria out of business, drank an experimental liquid, and awarded himself two weeks of detention."

Hakkai laughed sheepishly. "Oh well… that's typical Goku!"

* * *

"Aaa! That was my piece of pie!" Goku yelled, trying to grab it from Gojyo. "Get your own piece!"

"Your slice looks bigger than mine…" Gojyo answered. "And besides…. This is your fifth helping of dessert!"

"But I'm still hungry!"

**TZIIIING! TZIING!**

Goku and Gojyo jumped at the sound, and stared at Sanzo's gun. "Eh? I thought that was confiscated!" Goku exclaimed.

"I got it back…. What else would stop you two if I didn't have it?"

"Well, it wasn't my fault! He started it!" Gojyo pointed at Goku.

"Did not!"

**TZIIING! TZIIING! TZIING!**

"If you won't stop, the next bullet will definitely go through your heads!"

The two gulped and continued with the meal quietly, acting uniformly, as if in the military. Hakkai laughed and turned to Mrs. Kazuya. "Mrs. Kazuya… I don't quite understand… you are quite rich, but you don't have a single servant."

"We are quite in the new generation now," Mrs. Kazuya answered. "We're against slavery. And besides, it's good opportunity for the kids to learn to work with household chores… You'll never know where you'll end up in life…. You may be up now, but what about tomorrow? No one can predict what will happen. Why, no one even knows who you're going to end up calling your companions."

Hakkai nodded in agreement and looked out the window, at the moon peeking behind the clouds. He somehow remembered Yaone for a fleeting moment, before being drawn back to reality. Somehow, everything that was happening to them felt nostalgic, and at some point, worrisome. This wasn't their world, and he didn't like what was happening to it.


	5. And So It Begins

**Summer Snow**

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* * *

  
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curiouzkatt: I'm having fun! - Note: from now on, no more comments on the end of the chapter… I kinda find it distracting…. - just tell me if it's okay with you… I usually have nothing to say in the last part anyway…

Disclaimer: I do not own Saiyuki….. oh the humanity!

* * *

Chapter Five: And So It Begins

Mili sighed as their Miss Mala ranted about Fiction and Non-Fictoin. It was Friday afternoon already and, as she recalled, the week was anything but boring. She brought out her pen and started to write.

**"THE WEEK GOKU WENT TO LION MANE"**

She paused and looked at the title. No… she crossed it out and scribbled something shorter.

**_THE WEEK OF CHAOS_**

**Monday:**

Philosophy class

Genjo Sanzo, our new teacher and adviser. Well, I have to admit, for a trigger-happy monk, he can handle a class pretty well – he just sends people to detention too much.

Gym class

Another obstacle course… and who else can take it on aside from, Linlin? Goku. Our coach was actually crying! Weird guy…

Science class

No one can quite say what Goku's stomach is made out of. Either that it's an unknown metal, or it has a chemical with higher acidity. Whatever it is, it completely neutralized the chemical he drank.

**Tuesday:**

First thing that morning, our 'beloved' principal made an announcement. Although she really didn't have to. "Good morning, students and staff of Lion Mane… the cafeteria as you all know, will be closed until further notice.. we have no idea until when, but it is advisable that everyone should bring their own lunch… that is all.." Maybe she should've just gotten straight to the point and said: From now on, the cafeteria will be known as: "Goku's Lunch Box."

When the principal's announcement was over everyone in the room looked at Goku who just blinked back at us.

"What?"

Gym Class

"Okay everyone!" the coach called out as we came onto the field. "I hope you reviewed on the basics of archery for we will be applying them today!" Gee, like we didn't see that coming.

"This coach is crazy!" Linlin hissed. "I strongly doubt that this is part of the curriculum!"

"It's not…" I answered. "He just want to see how Goku does in this field…"

"Now, Goku…" the coach said, and handed Goku a bow and arrow. "You try it first…"

Goku took the items, stared at them blankly and looked up at the coach. "But…"

I had a feeling that Goku had no idea what to do… But of course, the coach insisted.

"It's okay to be nervous…" the coach smiled encouragingly at him. "Go ahead…" The coach walked away, to go to the sidelines.

I saw Goku sigh. "If you say so…" he fumbled with the arrow and stringed it onto the bow. ":Let's see…' before he could aim properly, the arrow slipped out of his hand, hit the metal post, ricocheted onto the field fence and hit home – on the coach's behind. Goku cringed. "Ooops…"

The coach slowly turned around and faced us. His expression was an indescribable mask of shock as he opened his mouth to speak. "Ouch.."

He passed out after that.. and we had a break for the rest of the period. The bad news, he was brought to a hospital.. the good news, we won't be having crazy gym activities for a while.

Science class

"Okay, class, continue your experiment from yesterday…" our teacher began. "And additional instruction…" at some point, I knew what she was going to say… "**K****eep your chemicals away from Goku**"

**Wednesday:**

Science class

"Today, each group will be assigned a lab mouse to take care of…" the teacher looked around, and seemed satisfied that Goku was behaving quite well. "Well, you will be dissecting them later on, but right now, you must show me that you can take care of them first. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am!" we answered in unison and the teacher started to hand out lab mice.

Goku stared at the little creature on his hand. I knew we were in for another show. "Wai! It's so cute!" he exclaimed, jumped up and down, accidentally elbowed our teacher and all the mice got loose. Need I say more?

As a result, Goku extended his detention to a length of a month….

**Thursday:**

Philosophy class

Sanzo was explaining to us a great philosophy when he suddenly hit the blackboard with his hand. I looked at the direction of his glare. "Your conversation must be very interesting…" he said icily. "Please…. Do share it with the class…"

Maria hesitated to stand up at that moment. At least someone can make her shut up… "We were just arguing on how to play mah-jongg…" I was expecting Sanzo-senpai to get mad, but instead, he took his chalk and wrote the details on how to play… and how to win.

The principal scolded him, but forgave him since she liked him. (Note: the moment everyone wanted to hurl.)

**And finally… Friday:**

Gym class

Our coach faced 3-A, with a limping stride. He handed Goku a pair of boxing gloves. "You may be bad at archery, but you could be good at boxing in the least…" he said and winced again… his butt still hurt I bet. He signaled to a boy to be Goku's sparring partner. "Harlequin!" Miles, Maria's seemingly twin at school… they were quite similar in attitude – mean and bossy. We watched as they went to the center of the ring, each prepared.

"You get too much attention," Miles said. "You're destroying our image around here…well, at least mine…" Without warning, he struck, but Goku didn't even budge. Seconds later, Miles was jumping around the ring, yelling in pain. "What the hell is his face made out of? Steel? Owww… I want my mommy!" Everyone was laughing at this… Miles' downfall was much awaited by most of the boys… Although Goku didn't do anything wrong, he was sent to the corner and made to do the basics.

Science class

"Okay, we're supposed to experiment using the laws of Projectile Motion.." our leader said. "We have to try and see whose throw has the longest distance." We were out on the field again and I looked around for Goku. Where was he? I saw their group a distance away, and Maria handed him a stone to throw – genius needed to figure out what happened to the stone….

Math class

"Goku! Wake up!" the teacher was practically yelling into Goku's ear. We could've told her that Goku was unwakeable, but she wouldn't have listened anyway. "This is the basics I'm trying to teach here! Basics!"

Goku sat up and looked at our teacher with sleepy eyes. Most of us mumbled our uh-oh's. "Basics…."

_Detention status: extended to two months.  
_

"You forgot to put there that he ate our lunches yesterday 'coz he was starving," Mayumi said, peering over Mili's shoulder.

"Oh, right!" Mili added it in her notebook, Scribbling away.

Linlin watched the two and sighed… they seemed to be enjoying all these mishaps her "cousin" was causing…

"Okay, assignment!" yelled Miss Mala. Linlin looked around the class. No one was quite eager to listen. "Write a five-page essay of your own opinion about marine life."

"What for?" some asked in unison. "Shouldn't that be in science?"

"I just want to test your writing skills," the teacher answered. "That's why we're going on a field trip to Aqua World tomorrow!"

Goku blinked. "Aqua World?"

"You haven't heard of it?" his seatmate asked. "It's one of the coolest marine institutes in the world!"

"Honto? Do they have food there?" Goku wanted to know. When his seatmate nodded, he cheered with the rest of the class. Wherever food was involved, he was there.

* * *

Sanzo sported his paper fan as he went up front and lagged behind to check on the whole 'unruly bunch of idiots' of the third year. Unfortunately, his reputation spread quickly and deadly that wherever he went, students fell silent at once. He might as well keep it already. It wasn't long until he spotted Goku lagging behind, trying every food in the booths.

WHACK!

"Itai!' Goku looked at Sanzo. "Mou, I almost choked on my food!"

"You'd be choking on something bigger than that if you don't shut up and go with the tour." Sanzo finally kept his fan, with the satisfaction it had hit someone that day.

* * *

_"Get out of here!"_

Mili looked around, was she hearing things again? Ever since they got inside Aqua World, someone seemed to be warning her – or toying with her. Even the fishes were acting weird…. They kept banging themselves on the glass, as if trying to scare them away.

_"Not safe!"_

_"Go away!" _

BOG!

Mili jumped. The small killer whale was staring at her – no – looking at her with alarmed eyes. What was going on? She tugged at her pigtails nervously.

BOG!

_"Run away!"_

She backed away from the tank. She was definitely freaked out. A sudden weight on her shoulder made her jump up and give a shrill yell.

"Whoa!" Linlin held her arms up in mock surrender. "What's gotten into you?" She put a hand over her friend's forehead. "You don't seem to have a fever.."

BOG! BOG BOG!

"Something's wrong with the fishes!" Mayumi called out, running to her two friends. "I think we need to tell the people in charge.."

"Whoo! Do piranhas act that way? Wicked!" Linlin turned around and found some boys watching a group of piranhas hitting the glass of their tank with their heads. She then spotted Goku running up to them.

"Goku! Where have you been?" Mayumi asked, sounding so much like Hakkai.

"Let me guess…" Linlin began. "Food?" When the boy nodded, she smirked. They had to catch up with the rest of the class.

Before the thought could be finished, a loud moaning sound came from the tank a few feet from them. Cracks started to form on its glass, and finally burst open. The water carried them further away from the group. Alarms started to blare as yells of confusion echoed throughout the place.

"Is everyone okay?" Goku asked, getting to his feet. The sound of the alarms was a little deafening. He looked around and found the boys who had lagged behind helping the others up and on their feet.

"Yeah… we just have fish guts on us…." One of the boys answered… "Was this the white shark? Oh our poor baby!"

_"Help!"_

Mili looked around. She found an angel fish flopping helplessly on the wet floor. She took pity on it and scooped it up in her hands. The only problem then was, she didn't have a place to put it.

"Here.." she looked up and realized that it was one of the boys watching the piranhas earlier. He handed her a small plastic with water in it.

"Thanks," Mili quickly placed the fish in the water. She could tell that the little thing was grateful. She looked back up at the boy. "Um, why did you… how did you…. Who…" she stopped. She wasn't sure what to ask first.

The boy smiled at her. "We were kind of saving the bag if ever they'd let us have any fish we liked…" the boy laughed sheepishly. "My name's Rikku by the way.. it's a nickname.. me and my friends all have nicknames." He waved to the other five boys. "Hey guys! Get over here!"

Linlin was already up and picked the seaweed off her short hair in disgust. She looked on as the boys lined up in front of her friend.

"Do we have to…" the one with the purple hair muttered. He didn't seem happy. "This is embarrassing.."

"Come on, Vincent.. just this one last time?" Rikku begged. With that, the six started to introduce themselves.

"Rikku!" the boy aid once again, grinning at Mili.

"Otaku!" the next one said, running a hand through his orange hair.

"Yuri…" mumbled the blond, looking bored.

"Genjo!" the one with green hair said, bringing out his small video camera.

"Blue!" the boy said with pure genkiness.

"Vincent.." mumbled the last, truly annoyed.

"All of them bowed and Rikku started again. "But we're also known as the Rainbow Brothers!"

Goku, Linlin, Mayumi and Mili sweatdropped. "You're joking…"

"Unfortunately, he's not…" Vincent said, scowling at his friend darkly. "And to top it off, our mothers think it's a 'swell' idea… That's why even our hair is color-coded."

"I see what you mean," Linlin nodded.

Before any of them could register what exactly was happening, a low rumbling sound accompanied the sound of the alarms and soon, the ceiling above the tank that had exploded gave way. Goku ran up to the rubble to see if they could get through. But it was too thick and some live wires had made contact with the water on the other side. He turned to the others. "We have to go back."

As if on cue, a tank several feet i behind /i them exploded, drenching them with more water. Linlin helped Mayumi get on her feet and surveyed their other option. The wall didn't give way alright… but now, there was a large hole between them and the exit. "Goku, do we any other options?"

"How about give up and die?"

Goku's senses were at the alert. He brought out his nyoibo as ninjas started to emerge from the shadows. He glanced back to the others who had huddled up together. "Stay back!" Linlin took a loose pipe nearby. "You too, Linlin."

Linlin stepped forward and assumed a sword-fighting stance. "I can fight too you know." The live wires in the former fish-filled tanks sparked now and then, as if to add gloom on their present situation. The brothers, as if ordered, took charge of guarding Mili and Mayumi with Genjo recording everything with his video cam.

The ninjas attacked first, and both Linlin and Goku were on the defense. Goku finally managed a break and kicked five ninjas at once. Linlin followed suit and swung her weapon left and right, taking out two more. She thrust her weapon at the ninja's stomach, sending him flying, hitting three others and fell down the chasm. "Six down!" she called out.

"Eleven!" Goku yelled, taking out one more, unintentionally, sending it near the others who immediately tied it up. "Twelve!"

Linlin mentally noted that she would never match up to Goku, but a part of her didn't like to be beaten. She performed a combo of kicks, roundhouse with back kick, taking out another three. "Ten!" She advanced towards another, hitting the solar plexus.

"Eleven!"

"Twenty!" Goku called out. Linlin stopped and smiled. "I give up, Goku! I'll never catch up to that number!" As she said this, she hit another right on the face with a back-fist attack. "I think I'll stick with twelve…"

In the corner, Mayumi and Mili saw Linlin's smile and her new attitude. They looked at each other.

One of the ninja's attempted an attack at the brothers, but ended up in the chasm. They all looked at Vincent who was dusting off his hands from mock dirt.

"What?"

"Nothing."

A shrill whistle announced a call from their leader. "RETREAT!" he called out, and one by one, the ninjas disappeared.

"Wait!" called out the tied up ninja. "What about me?"

The boys laughed at the ninja's demise and gave way for Goku and Linlin.

"Who sent you?" Linlin asked, pointing the end of the pipe at him. The ninja wouldn't answer. He just glared at them. "Cat cut your tongue?" She glanced at the boys who were all grinning in a way that made the ninja's blood run cold. "Would you like to do the honors?"

The boys cracked their knuckles and advanced at the tied ninja. Who cowered fearfully. "You killed our favorite fishes!"

"No! Not the face! Not the face!" he yelled, but it only made the boys grin wider.

* * *

Jei and Haku ran to the site and spotted their Philosophy teacher by the group of shaken third year students. He was obviously asked to guard them. They ran up to him. "Sensei! What happened here?"

"Two fish tanks blew up," Sanzo explained, lighting a cigarette. "Some of my pupils are still inside…. They're working on a way to get to them as we speak."

Haku brought out a notebook. "Who are the students stuck inside?' he was poised to take down names.

"Ch! Is that necessary?" Sanzo asked. "I don't even know all of my pupils yet…." He took a good look at Haku. He was shocked to see that this boy looked so much like Goku. Except for the eyes. This boy had dark blue eyes. He regained his composure. "But I'm positive that my ward Goku is in there with Linlin Kazuya and her friends. I'd say there are about ten of them inside."

"Thank you sensei…" Haku said, giving him a similar look that Goku usually has. He watched as the boy caught up with his partner. He can't help but think that the kid was Goku.

"Forensics are on the way to study the cause of this whole incident," Haku heard Mr. Murikawa say. He instinctively looked at the rubble to his right as the rescue team worked on making a passage. They were planning on shutting down the power and manually remove the stones. He could feel Goku's presence on the other side. "But I have a gut feeling that they won't find anything again."

* * *

Five of the boys stepped back and laughed at their handiwork. Vincent didn't join in his friends' art project. They had beaten the ninja to almost a pulp, and decorated him with seaweeds.

Goku stepped forward. "Are you ready to talk now?" he asked, sniggering. The ninja mumbled something inaudible. "What?"

"Kusanagi… Hitome…." he said a little bit louder. The name had struck something in Linlin's memory. She grabbed the man by the shoulders and shook him.

"Where is she? What does she want this time!" Linlin demanded to know, still shaking him. The ninja was grinning this time.

"She wants you dead!" he yelled, laughing maniacally. Linlin stepped back as cold fear settled in her stomach. Without warning, the ninja started to burn. He screamed in pure pain. "I sacrifice my life to you, Master!"

"Don't look!" someone yelled to the others. But Genjo continued to record the whole thing. The body was burning much more rapidly than usual. Goku looked over to Linlin. She watched the whole thing happen, until almost nothing was left of the ninja. The sparks stopped, and soon they were almost engulfed in total darkness.

* * *

"The question now, is what was their motive?" Jei said thoughtfully, as the rescue team yelled instructions to the students on the other side.

"Do you want to handle this case, Jei?" his father asked him. "Let me handle the robbery cases."

"No dad," Jei answered. "I feel that these are all connected somehow."

_"They're more connected than you think, Jei."_ Haku thought as he saw the students making their way out. The ten students slowly filed out and made their way through them.

"Linlin!" Jei called out. Haku glanced at his partner. He could tell that he was concerned for the girl. The girl waved back and walked over to them along with Goku. "Are you guys alright? None of you got hurt I hope.."

"Not really." Linlin answered flatly as usual. Haku's brows knitted a little. She had changed… It wasn't that obvious, but she had definitely changed. He had half the urge to ask who she was and what she did with the real Linlin. But of course, that would be rude. "We just got a little taste of marine life more closer than we expected…"

He was going to ponder more on the small mystery, but he noticed that Goku was staring up at him.

"What is it?" he asked him. It was kind of strange asking that question to Goku.

"Ne, how come we look alike?" he asked, looking him over. "You're just taller and have longer hair…. And you don't have a limiter." He noted, smiling at him.

Haku smiled back and leaned over to whisper to Goku: "After you finish here, continue your journeywest…. You'll know why."

"Goku!" the two looked at the pissed off monk who didn't move, but glared at the saru. "Get your sorry ass over here!"

"Sanzo!" Goku exclaimed cheerfully, bounding over to Sanzo. Haku watched him go and get hit by Sanzo's paper fan. He laughed to himself. That paper fan of his was a hell lot softer than the platinum one he won at the party in Tenkai.

Jei looked around for his partner… he found him watching their Philosophy teacher scold his ward. "Haku!" the boy turned to him with a slightly disappointed look on his face. "I have a few boys here who claims to have witnessed something paranormal."

"We didn't say anything like that!" said the boy with the blue hair. "And who told you to listen in anyway?"

"You were talking so loud," came the answer.

Blue's friends glared at him.

"So, what did you say burned like a bonfire?" Jei asked again.

"Um, the ninja they fought…" Blue said hesitantly.

"Blue!"

"Ninja?" Jei's curiosity was up a notch.

The brothers covered Blue's mouth and started to walk away. "He didn't say anything!" one of them said. "Just Kusanagi Hitome!" Blue managed to yell before his friends hit him on the head, one each. "SHUT UP BLUE!"

Jei had half the mind to run after the boys and ask more questions, but he figured he won't get anything out of them anymore. He turned to Haku. He was starting to become very confused. "This case is getting a little bit too complicated… don't you think?"

Haku laughed. "If we look in the right places, it might not be…"

Once out of the young detective's sight, the boys let go of Blue, who happily jumped up and down. "That was the most realistic acting we've ever done! Don't you think so guys?" he grinned at them expectantly, but they just gave him blank looks.

"Actually, we've been wanting to do that to you for years."

Blue stopped jumping, gave a silent 'oh' then became genki once more. "But I hope our clues were enough. that Murikawa's a smart one anyway. When he gets to crack this one, we'll be there to listen and help him along as usual, right?"

They finally gave in to his cheerfulness and smiled, even though they were all tired and stunk of marine life, they gave a chorus. "Right!"

* * *

Black nails tapped the well-polished surface of the table while red eyes looked at her sorry excuses for servants. They were bowing fearfully in front of her. "You have failed me…" she bellowed, her voice icy. "You don't deserve to live." She raised her hand and chanted a spell. She smiled as her ninjas tried to flee but fail. She savored the feeling as she took in the lives of her subordinates. She looked at them again. She cast another spell, giving them the functions of a human, but with a thirst for blood. Her heartless, mindless, bloodthirsty pets…It will be soon that she would get the lives of the Feared Children. It would be soon that she would rise to absolute power.

_This is just the beginning, Feared Children….I will have your lives._

* * *

**NO MATCHES FOUND**

Jei placed his fist down a little bit harder than he meant to. He couldn't find any leads on this Kusanagi person… He felt like he was looking in all the wrong places. Haku wasn't very helpful that night either… He was just staring at the downpour outside the library. "Haku," he said, almost in a whisper. Haku didn't hear him. "Haku!" he got his attention this time. "You can go home if you like… you seem out of it." Haku just shrugged and stood up.

"Sorry…" he said. "Need help on anything?"

"I can't find anything about this Kusanagi Hitome…" he looked back at his file searches. "Any idea?" he watched as his partner typed the word 'Ancient Legends'. "Why here?"

"Just wait," Haku said, then typed 'Kusanagi Hitome' on the search engine there. After a few seconds, dozens of files containing information on Kusanagi appeared.

"Whoa!" he looked at his friend in disbelief. "But how –"

"When you knock on the doors of Science," Haku began. "But no one answers, knock on the door across it."

"And that door would be?"

"The door of the Spirits."

And as the detectives went on through the wealth of information, four visitors slept soundly while Linlin sat on her balcony staring at the night sky, Shun practicing a recipe in the kitchen, Mayumi sleeping in her all pink room, and Mili talking to her new pet, whom she wished she could really talk to. None of them still knew that this was already the beginning.


	6. A Year and 500 Years Ago

**Summer Snow**

* * *

**curiouzkatt:** at last! Chapter Six!! Sorry it took so long for me to post this… if my mom catches me using this piece of technology, I'm dead meat. lights in room blare on oh no! O.O runs away R&R please!

_Disclaimer:_

curiouzkatt: stands tied up in front of a microphone

M.K.: points water gun at cat Say it!

curiouzkatt: shakes head stubbornly NO!

M.K.: squirts water through cat's ear and out the other SAY IT!

curiouzkatt: Okay already! passes a towel through ears I DON'T OWN SAIYUKI….

* * *

Chapter Six: A Year and 500 Years Ago

Linlin sat on the ledge of her balcony, watching the moon rise from the horizon. She closed her eyes, listened to the night sounds and tried to analyze herself. What was happening to her? It wasn't like her to put up an act like that… especially in front of someone she liked. Wait. _Someone she liked_. That was not in her vocabulary before. She jumped off the ledge, went to her bed and pulled her journal out from underneath. She took note of the day their "visitors" came and her first day to school with Goku, and the unusual thing that happened with her friends and Ryoko. She was noting on the field trip when she stopped at Kusanagi's name. She gripped her pen tightly. She was out to get them again. She rummaged in her box and took out a small blue pendant, the only thing that connected her to Alex. She wore it again, but she was still unsure if it was letting go, or holding on to the past. She went back out to the balcony and was surprised to find Goku there, hiding behind one of the giant potted plants. "What are you doing here?"

"Shh," Goku had a very pleading look in his eyes. "I'm hiding from Sanzo."

"What is it this time?" Linlin asked, rolling her eyes and returned to her place on the ledge.

"He's still mad about the field trip incident," said Goku, not budging from his post. "I told him about the ninja and stuff… he said I should have told him earlier."

"Makes sense…" Linlin sighed. Goku must've noticed the depression in that sigh for he asked what was wrong. "It's just that… I miss Alex…"

"What happened anyway?" Goku asked, shifting into an Indian sit, making sure that he was still hidden from Sanzo's sight. His wide golden eyes full of curious concern.

"A year ago…" she began. She paused. It was just strange. She wouldn't talk to anybody about what happened, and yet now, she was ready to tell this almost complete stranger. Goku was just the type of person you could tell your tale, and be confident that he wouldn't mind at all.

* * *

**Flashback**

_Linlin sighed as she looked out the window of her father's Mitsubishi. They were on their way to their grandmother's funeral in the next city, which was two hours away from home._

_"Don't worry Linlin," Alex said comfortingly. "Lion Mane always wins." He was referring to the inter-school intramurals that was always held on the school's foundation day. Unfortunately, they were missing it this year. It was supposed to be Linlin's first year to join, and the twins' last._

_"The school always won because you guys were there." Linlin answered, not looking away from the zooming scenery outside._

_"You flatter us…" Shun answered, finishing his chess game on the computer with Alex. "Check, and mate."_

_"Aww, man, this program is bugged, I tell you." Alex complained, demanding for a rematch._

_"Well, I bet you that Lion Mane would lose this year because you guys weren't there." Linlin said, staring in awe as they entered their grandmother's gigantic lawn. It was a long time ago since she last visited here with her brothers, and they weren't allowed inside then._

_"Okay guys… we're here!" Mrs. Kazuya announced as Mr. Kazuya killed the engine. She got out of the passenger seat and went in ahead of them. Mr. Kazuya looked at his children._

_"I know you guys are a little bit old for this… but please behave…" he said and looked at Linlin and Alex pointedly. "Especially you two."_

_"Yes sir!" Linlin and Alex said in unison, mimicking a soldier accepting an order with grins from ear to ear. Shun rolled his eyes. He knew they were in for some trouble._

_Linlin looked in amazement as they walked in the hallway. They had already gone to pay respects to their grandmother and were exploring the insides of the mansion. She turned around and started walking backwards, admiring the ceiling. "Wow…"_

_"Linlin! Watch where you're- "_

_CRASH!_

_"Oops…" was all Linlin could say as she could feel her mother's angry aura emitting from somewhere behind her. A maid quickly cleaned out of what became of the porcelain jar while their mother approached them and scolded them for ten minutes, that seemed like hours._

_"Now… I don't want anything else broken in my mother's house," she handed them some money and raised a warning finger. "Pass the time in town but be sure to be back before dark… okay?'_

_"Okay…"_

_One hour later……_

_"Hurry up you slowpokes!" Linlin teased, running ahead of her brothers._

_"We would be glad to…" Alex answered, slightly annoyed._

_"…if we weren't carrying these!" Shun finished, slightly putting up the boxes he was carrying._

_"Maybe you should ask Uncle Seth for more training," Linlin said, giggling away. "Oh, by the way Alex.. did you get something for Mayumi?"_

_Alex blushed a little. "Not yet.. I don't know what to get her…" he said as they followed their sister into a small candle shop in the mall. No one was in the shop, but Linlin looked around anyway._

_"How about this one?" Linlin said, handing Alex a candle and took another one. "Or this one?"_

_Alex and Shun sweatdropped. Their sister was in her hyper mode and they couldn't do anything to stop her. A scent suddenly caught Shun's attention away from his siblings – it was gunpowder. "Alex! Linlin! We have to get out of here now!"_

_**BOOM!**_

_Fire alarms blared on as Shun got up from under a few debris. He looked around for the other two. Spotting his sister a few feet away, he struggled to get up and helped his sister. She seemed to be dazed. "Linlin! Get a hold of yourself!"_

_Linlin's eyes fluttered open, registering her brother's face. "Shun… where's Alex?"_

_"I'm right here.. " Alex muttered, going to them. His left arm dangled broken on his side._

_"We have to get out of here before there's another explosion." Shun helped his sister up, and supported her. "Let's go…" There was almost no one in that part of the mall. If there were any, they were injured as well. On their way out, a dark-cloaked person blocked the way._

_"Out of the way, you two," the man said, referring to the twins. "Our business does not concern you. We only need your sister."_

_"Whatever business you have with her, you'll have to deal with us, too." Alex said, ready to protect his sister._

_"Then…" the man began, forming an eerie ball of energy in his hands. "… all of you will die!" He released the ball towards Linlin and Shun. Alex didn't even stop to think and blocked his siblings, receiving the full blast. The man cursed to himself and disappeared._

_Everything seemed to be in slow motion for both Linlin and Shun as they watched their brother fall to the ground in a heap. "ALEX!!" yelling the name had broken the spell and Linlin ran to Alex, forgetting her own injuries. She knelt down and lay Alex's head on her lap. She knew she was going to lose Alex, but she didn't want to believe it. "Alex…" she was starting to cry. Shun knelt beside her, looking down at his twin._

_Alex gave them a weak smile. "Don't worry guys…" he said quietly. "We'll meet again someday… until then, take care of each other.." He was starting to disappear. What was happening? Linlin thought. This isn't what happens when someone dies. He was starting to vanish. He gave Linlin a last request. "Take care of Mayumi…" he said then added: "See you later…"_

_Linlin forced herself to smile. "Later…" Where Alex was, was a blue pendant. She took it and closed her hand tightly around it. Shun said nothing, but held onto her shoulder in a comforting way. She hugged him tightly, holding on for fear of losing him and cried the pain away._

**End of Flashback**

* * *

Goku shifted in his Indian sit and gave out a knowing sound. "So that's what happened…"

Linlin tugged at the pendant. "He risked his life for us," she said. "I don't want anyone to do that again… I don't want to suffer the loss of someone I love."

"Um, do you think the cat-like person I fought before is involved in all of this?" Goku asked, trying to divert the conversation to something with less angst.

"I don't think so…" Linlin said, trying to remember what the cat looked like. "Her agenda seems to be you."

_"Damn right he is!"_

The two looked up to find nocturnal green eyes staring down at them. With one swift movement, she was on the balcony. Linlin immediately went on the offensive, attacking with a punch. Her fist was caught with one hand. She knew she was in trouble.

"Is that all you've got?" the cat asked, pulling Linlin to her and punched her on the stomach, sending her flying off the balcony.

"Linlin!" Goku yelled, neglecting his defense, allowing the cat to hit his side. He looked up at the cat with a pained expression. _She's stronger than she looks!_

She grinned. "Hey, I'm your opponent here…" she raised her hand and a blade-like weapon appeared on it."Time to die!"

**TZIING!!**

The blade was thrown off to the ground below, giving Goku enough to time to counter attack with a low kick. The cat jumped away holding on to her wrist and looked for the intruder. She found Sanzo standing on the ledge of the main balcony, and gave a wry smile. "Konzen! How nice to see you again!"

"Sorry miss, but you seem to have the wrong person," the cat looked behind, off the balcony to find Hakkai on the tree with Linlin.

"Yeah! Because this guy's name is Genjo Sanzo!" Gojyo added, extending the chain of his weapon, missing the cat by a centimeter.

"Your aim is a little off, Kenren…" the cat commented, picking up her weapon and preparing to attack again.

"Oh yeah?" Gojyo said, giving his weapon a tug, making it come back and tying the cat snugly. "Oh, and my name's Gojyo by the way…"

The cat struggled with all her might to get lose, but to no avail. She went for her last resort, telling their past lives. "Let me go! Let me go!" she glared at Gojyo. "I never did like you…." She didn't get to continue what she wanted to say, for Sanzo had gotten to Linlin's balcony and pointed his gun at her.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Sanzo demanded from her, not letting his guard down even though the cat was already tied up. He asked again. "What do you want from us kami?"

"Hmph!" she refused to look at Sanzo, pouting like a little kid.

Linlin came near, limping a little and looked at the cat closely. She looked very familiar to someone… someone like… "Ryoko?"

The cat scoffed. "And I thought you wouldn't recognize me…" she said and glowed for a moment. When it passed, she was back to the Ryoko Linlin knew.

"But… why?" Linlin asked, a little confused. "And how come?"

"My life in Tenkai was much nicer without Goku.." Ryoko answered, not looking at anyone in particular. Then glared at Goku. "But when **he** came, everything changed! It was as if I never existed! When I heard that Goku was –"

"Yo!" Kanzeon's sudden appearance startled all of them. She was smiling sheepishly. "So sorry about this!" she said, untying Ryoko's binds and held her by the scruff. "Did my pet cause you any trouble? Any at all?" she glanced at Linlin and gasped. "Oh my!" she looked at her 'pet'. "**RYOKO!**"

"But I – " the girl said, trying to explain.

"**SAY SORRY!**"

Ryoko was going to argue more, but when Kanzeon glared at her, she quickly looked at Linlin, said a quick sorry and looked at Kanzeon again. "But Kanzeon… I was only…."

"Will you look at the time!" the goddess exclaimed, slapping her forehead. "Gotta go!"

"But Kanzeon-sama…." Ryoko tried again then pointed out. "You don't have a watch…" The two disappeared were soon up in Tenkai. Kanzeon dropped her pet and scowled at her darkly. "What?"

"You nearly put in a spoiler!" she yelled. "Bad kitty!" she raised her arm and put a collar on Ryoko with Doraemon prints on it, the Doraemon lyrics playing.

"AAAAAA! GET IT OFF ME!!" Ryoko yelled, but Kanzeon only laughed evilly.

* * *

"And that's why we're stuck here," Sanzo concluded, keeping his gun. He noticed that Goku was sniffing the air. "What is it, saru?"

"I smell blood."

Shun fumbled with his key to the house, careful not to let it slip through his bloody hands. He managed to open the door and lock it behind him. He groaned and sank down to the floor… he had to get to his room and patch himself up before Linlin found out. Standing up, he stumbled forward and he would've fallen all the way if Goku hadn't caught him.

"What the heck are you doing up this late hour?" he asked, as the smaller youth led him up the stairs to his room.

"The question is, what did you do to come home a bloody mess?" Shun looked at the doorway of his room to find his sister glaring at him, demanding for an answer. But he could clearly see that Linlin was worried sick behind that mask of anger. He also knew that it was useless to lie to her right now.

"Twenty ninjas…" he muttered as Goku set him down in a chair in his room. He looked at her sister… he never thought he's ever see her look the way she did now. There was fear in those eyes of her, fear of losing him. Hakkai now came in with medicinal items and started to look at his injuries. He saw the suppressed alarm in his sister's eyes. "Don't worry… I got rid of all of them…" he winced as Hakkai placed some medicine on the wound on his face. He could tell that Linlin was blaming herself – for not being there perhaps. Whatever that look suggested, it also hurt his pride. "Look… I can protect myself, too…"

"Shun, you're an idiot…" Linlin muttered and walked out of the room.

"Linlin! Wait!" Shun called, and winced when he realized that he also had a broken rib.

"But that's not quite the priority here…" said Hakkai, now bandaging Shun's neck. "You're more injured than you think…" he said, using his chi-gong to mend the broken rib. "The best for you right now is rest…" He slung the boy's arm over his shoulder and led him to the bed.

Shun smirked. "And I thought I'd be the one saying that to my sister…"

* * *

Like a black jaguar that prowls in the night, Linlin stealthily passed through their house's fence and ran in the direction of Neri Park. Only the sound of her footsteps could be heard and the howls of dogs in that neighborhood. She slowed down as she reached the park and started to walk, looking around for something. She wasn't quite sure what it was, but something had led her there and she was positive that it was related to her recent dream, the dream that had led her to run out of her house at three in the morning. It was the strangest dream of all… her dreams were nothing of that intensity. It was as if a part of someone else's past. She could sense the one who was leading her there and she just let herself be guided, not thinking at all. She looked on ahead and found an old tree house atop the giant oak. She walked to it, looked up, and found someone by its window. She was staring at the sky. Linlin finally climbed to where the girl was and stared up the sky with her.

"Do you have answers?" the girl asked, still looking at the sky. Her voice was sweet, and yet sad. Linlin glanced at her and looked back up the sky before answering.

"No, I don't have answers for you… nor for me…" she said quietly, the sound of crickets finally reaching her ears. "I only have questions….."

Silence.

None of them spoke after that exchange, and waited for the sun to touch the darkness of the sky. When its faintest sign showed, Linlin looked at the girl and was about to say goodbye when she spoke again.

"Zeia."

Linlin wasn't sure what it was at first, but then realized that it was her name she just said. She smiled and answered: "Linlin." She made her way down the tree and walked back to the direction of her house. She looked back, but Zeia wasn't there anymore.

Mayumi sighed as she stared at the pink ceiling of her room. It was Sunday already? She looked at her pink alarm clock before covering her face with her pink pillow. Five A.M. She removed the pillow from her face and got out from under her pink covers. Pink, pink, pink. Why can't her mother appreciate freedom of expression? Why does she always have to have her way? She opened the pink door to her own – pink- bathroom. She started to brush her teeth, pink bubbles frothing from the toothpaste. She mused about the room she'd really like to have. First of all, it would match the general design of the house… and her bed wouldn't be a pink four-poster…. Just a simple, patchwork covered bed.

**SLAM!**

Mayumi jumped at the sudden noise the closed door had made but shrugged off the enigma and continued to imagine her room. And then… almost nothing would be pink. She'd have the poster of her favorite singer on her cabinet door, and oh, that falling star alarm clock she always wanted. She gurgled on her last mouthful of water, thinking of the changes she wished to make on the bathroom. When she looked down, she ended up spitting water on the mirror.

The bathroom was changed. She shook her head in total disbelief. "Okay, calm down Mayumi…" she told herself, opening the bathroom door. She didn't dare to look at her room yet. "There has to be a logical explanation for all of this.. and that is…" she peeked with one eye, then opened the door all the way. "I must be dreaming.." Her once pink room was transformed into a nice combination of colors – and almost nothing was pink. The things she had pictured in her mind were all there.. the design, the bed, the alarm clock, - everything! She pinched herself as if to wake her. It hurt, but the room of her dreams was still there. She wasn't dreaming and it was the time to panic. No one can find out!

A knock came on the door. "Miss Mayumi…" the maid called from the other side. "Breakfast is ready…"

"Sure Grace!" she called out, rushing to her dressing room and grabbed whatever she had her hands on. "Just give me a minute!" She looked at the choices she pulled out. Khaki pants and a fitted red shirt – it would have to do! She quickly put them on, put on some sneaks and fixed her long red hair into a ponytail. She looked at herself in the mirror and decided to grab a vest before running to her door, then stopped. Wait. It was a Sunday. Her mom would faint if she saw her in these… She started to pace about. But where would she go? Who could she talk to about a phenomenon such as this? Certainly not her mother.

She was about to go out when her door opened and her father rushed in. "Dad?" she said, quite surprised and forgetting the rush of the moment. Her father wasn't supposed to be back from London until next week. "What are you doing here?"

"Surprise!" he said then noticed the room. "Whoa! I've been gone for only two weeks and you've done a complete renovation?" he lifted his daughter off the ground. "You certainly are fast little one!" he put her down, beaming at her, then suddenly frowned. "Your mother doesn't know about this, does she?"

Mayumi shook her head and held his father's shoulder. "Dad, it's kinda complicated, but you have to know the truth…." She said, her voice quite grave, making her dad suspicious.

"You did this illegally?"

"NO!"

"Then what?"

She sighed. "I told you… it's complicated," she led her father to sit on her new bed. "It kind of freaked me out too, but when I was in the bathroom, the door suddenly closed… and when I opened it, the room was like this!" she pointed at her clothes. "Now, I even have clothes without pink! – by just thinking it!" to her surprise, her father didn't even seem doubtful. He sighed and smiled at her again.

"I knew I should've told you sooner…" he mumbled, running a hand through his copper hair. "Mayumi, this is the magic within you!"

"Say what?"

"Now it's my turn… it's kind of hard to explain…" he said, grinning at his daughter for not being original. "But we're not from this world…"

"You're kidding," Mayumi said, her nerves finally calming down, only to be overtaken by shock.

"Let me explain… Earth doesn't exist alone…. It coexists with a place called Togenkyo – I'm sure you've heard of it…" his father said. But she wasn't sure if she wanted to believe. "I kind of liked it better here…." Mayumi was silent… everything was kind of hard to sort out. Something in her pocket started to vibrate. She took it out, realizing it was a phone and Mili was calling. She looked at her dad who gave her a thumbs-up, mouthing a 'happy birthday'. She flipped it open.

"What's wrong Mili?'

_"Emergency! Meet at Linlin's house A.S.A.P.!"_ with that, the call was ended. She pocketed her gift and looked at her dad. "Dad, I have to go."

Her father nodded. "Don't worry, I'll take care of your mom."

"Thanks dad, you're the best!" Mayumi said, running out of her room, down the hallway and spiral staircase, into the kitchen and into the garage. She took her pink bike… she paused. If she could give her room a total makeover, why can't she with her bike? She concentrated on the thought and got the dark purple color she wanted. She shuddered. It was getting a little freaky. She rode her bike out of the garage and headed for Linlin's house not too far away. What if she thought ill of someone but not meant it but it happened? She was now scared of her magic. She didn't want to use it anymore.

It didn't take her long to get there, and she rode along the tall fence around their house, looking for the marked bar. They had discovered the human error in the bars about a year ago, and they had always used it as a shortcut to Linlin's room. She slid her bike through and squeezed in after it then rode off to the tree by Linlin's balcony. Getting there, she leaned her bike on the tree and looked up at it, trying to remember how Mili and Linlin used to climb it many times before. She would've had experience in climbing it, if she wasn't wearing skirts before. She sighed… she can do this! With a bit of difficulty, she slowly made her way up the tree until she heard voices from Linlin's room – an angry voice. She discontinued her climb and sat on a branch, obscured from view.

"You disappoint me, Linlin!" came Mrs. Kazuya's voice… she seemed to be suppressing her anger.

"I just went for a stroll.." she heard Linlin mumble. It always amazed her at how her friend can manage to have a calm voice in such a heated situation. But.. weren't they in good terms with each other? What happened all of a sudden?

She heard Mrs. Kazuya scoff. "At three in the morning? I DON'T THINK SO!"

She winced. That was just a wee bit loud and scary. Wait. Linlin was out at _three_ in the morning?

"It's not polite to eavesdrop you know.." Mayumi looked higher up the tree and found Sanzo there, smoking one of his Malboros.

"Then what are you doing here?" Mayumi whispered. Then realization hit her about who Sanzo really was – who they all really were. "I thought only imonk/ieyes climbed trees." She quickly clapped a hand on her mouth. _Oh no! I forgot about his temper!_

To her relief, Sanzo ignored the remark. "Avoiding idiots, smoking my cigarette and hearing a conversation in the air."

"Why do monks quibble so much?' she mumbled, imitating Gojyo's word from an episode of Saiyuki she got to watch. "Whatever you say, it's eavesdropping, too." She heard Linlin's door slam shut and took it as her cue. She continued her climb, hopped onto the balcony and entered the room, coming face to face with Linlin's wooden kendo sword. She stared at the tip. "Hi…"

"Mayumi…" Linlin stated, glaring at her friend. She didn't mean to, but her foul mood was still up a few notches. She moved the sword away from her friend's face. "What are you doing here? What's the emergency?"

"You tell me!" Mayumi said, sitting on her bed. She noticed that for once, her friend wasn't wearing a skirt, or anything pink for that matter. "Mili called me up and said to meet here…" she looked around. "And I assume she's not here yet, judging by your mom's recent exit."

"She thought of peeking into my room just when I left…" Linlin muttered, rolling her eyes. "I left a decoy, but she went inside and discovered the old pile of pillows trick…. She was waiting in my room when I got back."

"Where did you go anyway?" Mayumi inquired. "It's not like you to sneak out in the dead of night…"

"I heard someone call me…" she replied, taking out her phone. "I'd better call up Mili and see what's taking her so long."

"You didn't answer my question."

"Maybe she'd answer you if we're all here…" Mili said, coming from the balcony as well. Her hair was a little messy from climbing the tree. "Why didn't you answer your phone?"

"If your mom was yelling at you, would even dare to move?" Linlin said pointedly.

Mili didn't continue to prod.

Linlin folded her arms behind her back. "And why was this meeting so important?"

"_Because everything is beginning to become crazy…"_ Mayumi thought, remembering her talk with her father, but she decided to keep her worry a secret.

"Actually, I just called coz I was damn worried about you running away and all…" Mili explained, finishing tying her hair into the usual pigtails. "Your mother took the liberty of waking me up." She looked at Linlin. "So why was your departure so important that you had to make your mom panic like that?"

Linlin sighed. "I had a dream about someone else's past…." When her friends gave her confused looks, she explained further. "I dreamt of a family murdered. I was looking through the eyes of the only survivor, and when I woke up, I heard her calling me."

"And did you meet this 'survivor'?" Mili asked, still a little skeptical. "What was she like? What was her name?"

"Her name's Zeia. But she didn't tell me anything else." She somehow felt that Zeia was coming. She turned to Mayumi, for she couldn't help but wonder at her friend's new fashion sense. "Are you on a strike or something?"

Mayumi shook her head, paused, then nodded. "I just want to try something new for a change, whatever my mother says."

"Anyone up for breakfast?" someone called from downstairs.

Mayumi looked at her watch then sighed. "It's almost seven…" she said. "I'm in trouble with my mom either way… so I guess I'll stick around." She stood up and opened Linlin's door and came face to face with a girl with short chocolate brown hair and dark brown eyes who was in the act of knocking. Mayumi and the girl stared at each other. "Um…." The girl was looking at her with curious and yet knowing eyes. She looked past Mayumi and looked at Linlin. Mayumi followed her gaze and addressed Linlin. "Now it's our turn…"

_What's going on?_


	7. Answers

**Summer Snow**

* * *

**curiouzkatt: **I made a few revisions in the previous chapter… if you get confused in this chapter, reread the previous chappie…

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Saiyuki. T-T I'm tired… okay? And tortured! (M.K. laughs in the background)

* * *

**Chapter Seven: Answers**

* * *

**Flashback**

_Kanzeon smiled at the dazed girl in front of her as she began to take in the familiar place of Tenkai. "Welcome back, Zennen Kazei, but I'm afraid your visit here this time will be quite short." The girl with chocolate brown hair and golden eyes stared at her, confused, but somehow in its depths, she knew what Kanzeon was saying. "Because of a certain... mishap that my pet has done..." she said, glaring at Ryoko who was still wearing the ridiculous musical Doraemon collar and who glared back at her. "I need someone to replace her position as one of Linlin's friends on Earth."_

_Zeia stared at her, a bit lost. "What exactly do you want me to do?"_

_Kanzeon smiled. The way the girl had asked the question, there was little hesitation in doing the task. "Be friends with them and find your own answers." she waved her hand at the lotus pond and showed her the life which she will be put in, and the memories and knowledge that she must have on Earth. "It's an easy enough task, granted that you won't get killed off somewhere along the line..." the goddess muttered __nonchalantly._

_"You really have a knack for making things sound so easy." Ryoko muttered under her breath, flicking a stray lotus petal from her kimono._

_"Ah, but things are only difficult if you make them seem so." Kanzeon answered and watched as Zeia touch her temples as an apparent headache came to her with all the information she suddenly had. "Do you want to know anything else?"_

_"Will I die there?"_

_Kanzeon grinned and waved her hand to bring Zeia to Earth. "If you choose to."_

_With a snap, Tenkai slowly vanished, and Zeia found herself in a huge tree house in the middle of a park. It was still dark, but she felt that morning was coming. She forgot to ask what to do when she got there, but she had the feeling that all she had to do was wait._

**End of Flashback**

**

* * *

  
**

Genjo's reading glasses slightly slid off his nose as he peered closely at his computer screen. They were in their tree house hideout that morning and he wasn't sure if it was a nightmare. Rikku had left him in charge of current events and visual information gathering that day, and he was tasked to look for the Computer Quiz Bee results. It wasn't a problem at all, but the one who won was something of an enigma to him. He glanced at his friends who were all busy at their posts. Rikku with financial matters and hacking into heavily guarded police files and Blue with machine programming and security surveillance. He cleared his throat. "Quiz Bee results!" he announced, using their messengers to relay the information on his screen. His friends were all quiet and looked at each other. But before anyone could say anything, the platform they used to get there opened, carrying a man who was about in his mid-fifties and used a walking stick.

"Master Splinter!" Blue exclaimed imitating Michelangelo and was awarded with a bump on his head.

"For the last time, Benedict…" he said, glowering at Blue. "I am not a giant rat who knows martial arts!"

"But Uncle Stuart, you sound like him…" Blue muttered, holding the bump on his head.

The man ignored him and glanced at the others. "Anyway boys…" he began. "Am I, or am I not your landlord? Today is Sunday… give your work a rest or a while… we have church duties."

"Aww, man!" Genjo whined. "Can't we skip this Sunday? Uncle… We have an enigma here!"

"No my nephew…" Uncle Stuart said sternly. "A day of rest is a day of rest Gabriel, you should know that by now…" He started his way onto the platform. "And besides, something tells me that your enigma will soon be solved."

* * *

"So let me get this straight..." Mayumi started, twirling her spoon in her hand. They had settled on eating breakfast in Linlin's room so this new girl, Zeia could explain what was happening. They were having some salad, sunny side ups and some toast plus hot choco on the side. It was a strange breakfast combination for her, but she liked it. "...you're from Togenkyo and you were sent here to replace Ryoko? That's crazy, no one can just play with Fate just like that!" And as those words left her mouth, she realized that she was someone whom Fate had played on, too. She fell silent for a time and was only prompted by Linlin to talk again by asking what was wrong. She was hesitant, but everything that started that morning wasn't something she could handle by herself anymore.

"Actually.. I'm sort of from Togenkyo, too..." the silence that followed her words were both of surprise and confusion. Well, that was how she felt as well.

"Okay, so now we're all faced with people who have some sort of magical powers? I feel out of place now..." Mili muttered.

"You can hear animals, I believe that's something magical." Linlin muttered absentmindedly, chewing on a a mouthful of toast and egg and noting to herself to add more salt on her cooking. She looked at her curly-haired friend who stared at her dumbfoundedly. She shrugged and just gave that look that said: 'What?' She had seen her friend with animals, and what happened at Aqua World did not escape her attention. "Anyway, what's this about being from Togenkyo?"

Mayumi shifted in her seated position on the floor. "I don't know how it happened, but by just merely thinking it, I changed my room into something I really wanted. It was like magic. I got scared but my father had coincidentally gone back home today as a surprise for my birthday. When he saw my room, I explained to him and without even batting an eyelash, he told me that he was originally from Togenkyo, but he liked living here better... I didn't get to ask him further questions because you called for an emergenct meeting here..." she glanced at the three other girls listening to her and looked at Zeia. "My family may not have the same reasons for being here, but there may be more to why you are here. Maybe we can even help each other in some way."

Zeia nodded. "Thank you for your kindness. I hope to be able to help you in return." As she finished her statement, there was a light tap on the door and it opened to reveal Shun's face, a little bit not surprised with the company in his sister's room.

"Lin, it's time to leave for church. Are you girls coming with?" Shun asked. "We'd look like one big extended family." he joked and got chuckles in return. "Well, it's up to you guys. Those who are coming, be down in ten minutes."

Once the door closed again, Mili stood up. "Well, I for one want to make things less awkward between you and your mom, so I'm coming." she said proudly, as if she was some hero. "And I don't think we're done talking about things either."

Linlin nodded. "Agreed. We'll have to meet again for this, and probably when you two would start your training."

* * *

Genjo sighed as he took his post in the confession box and placed the voice changer around his neck. How come Rikku and Blue won for the sacristan duties? They were so lucky… they just had to follow the priest, hand him things and ring the bell. He, on the other hand had to deal with people who ask for God's forgiveness of their sins. It was boring! Hardly anyone goes to the box these days anyway. Even if they did, he might tell them to just tell their problems to God, or jump off a cliff...

The door to the box opened, then closed. The other side was silent…. Usually, people made lots of unnecessary noises when they come to the box.

"Okay… are you one of the three?" the person on the other side said quite calmly. He recognized it as the girl from the day before – Linlin Kazuya. "Or are you really a priest named Gabriel?"

He removed the voice changer. "Hey! No real name calling!' he hissed, opening the small window dividing his side from the other and hazel eyes met sapphire. "If you don't want to be called by yours."

Linlin leaned back on her chair. "Fair enough…"

"How did you know we were here?" Genjo asked, looking at Linlin in a confused way. "What gave us away?"

"First of all, I saw Blue and Rikku with the priest." Linlin explained, then continued. "Secondly, the name on the box gave you away."

"You sound like a detective…" mumbled Genjo and listened outside. The mass wasn't going to be over for at least fifteen more minutes. He then remembered his Uncle's words.

_  
"Something tells me that your enigma will soon be solved…"  
_

He then remembered the information they were counting on about Kusanagi Hitome. "Hey, we have information on your… erm… 'enemy'." When he saw the guarded look on the girl's face he continued. "Meet us with your friends at the old tree house in Neri Park at three later… at least one of us will be there…"

Linlin hesitated. "Why should I trust you?"

"Do I look like someone who would fool another being?"

"Yes."

Genjo groaned. "Come on… just be there… okay?"

"You might not even show up."

"I'll bet you my week's allowance we'll all be there way before then…" Genjo drawled and was about to explain that it was their hideout, but Linlin was already gone. "Gee… it wasn't in her profile that she was trained like a ninja!"

* * *

"Where are we going?" Goku asked for the umpteenth time as they walked to Neri Park. "A restaurant?"

**TONK!**

"You idiot!" Linlin scolded. "For the last time, we're going to Neri Park and it has nothing to do with food!" she groaned inwardly. She shouldn't have agreed when the boy asked to come along. But those stupid, pleading big golden eyes were hard to say no to. Those eyes were so innocent – it was hard to believe that someone who was as innocent as him existed. It was quite unnerving at times.

"Maa, maa!" Zeia intervened, probably hoping that she wouldn't hurt the poor monkey anymore, having hit by Sanzo's fan profusely the day before. "When we get home, I promise I'll cook for you… alright, Goku?"

"Hai!!" Goku cheered, jumping around in pure genkiness, ignoring the path they took to get to wherever they were going.

Linlin leaned to her friend. "You know how to cook?"

"Nope!"

"Then, why did you say you would?"

Zeia smiled at her. "Which do you prefer: a happy Goku or a hungry, whining Goku?

"I'll take the former please."

Mili and Mayumi were behind the entourage to the tree house, and they couldn't help but be amazed at the closeness Linlin and Zeia had developed in such a short span of time. They were supposed to meet with the Rainbow Brothers about some additional information regarding that Kusanagi person. Whatever it was going to be, they wanted to know more why it gave Linlin so much rage.

"I'm worried for Linlin..." Mayumi muttered in her soft-spoken voice.

"Hm?" Mili muttered, watching Goku bounce back and forth Zeia at the thought of having a meal later.

"I mean, when she finds out more about that person, what would she do?" It was an earnest concern, and Mili was sad to know that she didn't have answers for her either.

"Well the least we can do is be there for her. And didn't she say she'd train us? I think that's something to look forward to." Mili grinned with enthusiasm, patting Mayumi on the back. The red-haired girl was forced forward by the strength of the pat, but said nothing.

"We're here," Zeia announced as they stood in front of the tree house. "They seem to be here already." A small machine hovered toward them and stopped in front of the nearest one – Goku. The screen on it blinked on, revealing Rikku's face.

"Wow…" Goku stared at the gadget, and poked it several times. It reminded him of a burger Shun once made for him.

"Hey! Cut that out!" Rikku cried, looking a little motion sick. "Anyway, come on up guys.." as soon as he said that, Goku took the machine out of the air and put it in his mouth. "HEY! SPIT IT OUT MAN!"

Linlin hit the back of Goku's head, forcing the saru to spit it out, sending it crashing onto the trunk of the tree. Some of its circuit sparked, and it soon produced smoke – it was out of commission. A flash of blue landed in front of it and picked it up. Blue looked at them teary eyed. "How could you do this to my baby!" he said, his voice breaking, hugging the machine protectively. "How could you?!" Linlin shrugged then said: "Hey, I'm sorry… okay?"

"Enough with the drama Blue!"

"Get up here already!" Linlin, Zeia, and Goku followed Blue up the tree house, to find it almost not a tree house at all. Blue waved one hand towards their "base". "Welcome to our humble "home".."

"You live here?" Goku asked, looking around, taking in the six computers and the giant CPU the totally blended with the tree house's design. "Not exactly homely."

"Stupid…" Blue muttered, taking out his repair kit. "I meant that we spend too much time here that it's almost like a home!" When he saw that Goku was unfazed with the intended insult, he thought of another approach. "Baka saru!"

"I'm not a stupid monkey!" Goku cried, choking the other boy.

"Hey! I was only teasing!" Blue managed to say while Linlin and Zeia grabbed Goku away. "Don't take it personally!"

"Have Gojyo around twenty-four seven and you'll know why I take it personally," Goku muttered as Linlin finally cleared her throat.

"Alright… let's get down to business…" she said, sounding like an announcer. She looked at Blue. "Since Genjo's not here… "

"I'm right here!" Genjo's voice called out, coming from another one of Blue's contraptions. Another flying monitor hovered nearby, and it was Rikku again. They seemed to be busy cleaning somewhere. "We called you guys here because we want to know what's the deal with her." He pointed at Zeia. "She doesn't belong here. Where's Ryoko?"

"How come you remember Ryoko? No one's supposed to remember her… - except us." When the boys only looked as confused as she felt, she sighed. "It looks like another explanation is in order…" Linlin muttered, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Zeia…. The floor is yours."

* * *

Haku sighed as he and Jei walked through the park, looking for a place that could be a hideout. They had discovered everything there is to be known about Kusanagi Hitome and Jei wanted to have a "talk" with a few people. Haku shifted his hold on the thick files he carried just as a strong gust of wind blew, lifting off a few papers from the file. He ran after them and found himself near a small creek – and felt Goku's presence.

"Jei!" he called out, looking across and saw a giant tree house.

"What is it?" Jei called back, running to where he was, and saw the tree house as well. "Shall we drop in?"

Haku nodded and followed Jei who had already crossed the small bridge. He waited for Jei to climb up and jumped to the balcony, finding himself face to face with Goku's nyoibo. When the boy recognized him, he lowered it down.

"You're the guy from yesterday!" he exclaimed, the guarded eyes fading, replaced by relieved, cheerful ones. He made his weapon disappear then asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Good thing this place is huge…" Rikku drawled from his monitor before glaring at Genjo who laughed sheepishly. "What happened to our security cameras and alarm?"

"I, er, turned them off 'coz we expected company?" Genjo tried, but only found glaring eyes and received a few flying cleaning materials his way. He saw that Jei was starting to poke around. "Hey! Don't touch anything!"

Jei quickly pulled back his hand and smiled at him. "Sorry, Gabriel…"

"NO…. REAL… NAME…. CALLING!!" he yelled, acting like a little kid who was deeply insulted. "Why is everyone calling me that today??"

"ENOUGH!" Linlin cried. "We aren't getting anywhere!" she looked at the junior detective. "What _are_ you doing here? They said they were waiting for someone to explain about Feared Children."

"Because **someone** had brought something to my attention," Jei explained, glancing at Blue who coughed. Jei cleared his throat. "Feared Children…" he began. "Chosen ones with enormous power to stop the rising of Kusanagi Hitome, the evil spirit who feeds on man's greed, anger, hatred, and all those negative energies. Right now, she's bent on revenge on whoever had sealed her two centuries ago…" he paused and as Haku handed Linlin the file. "She also needs that enormous power to finally gain a body of her own to destroy the ones who sealed her."

Rikku clapped his hands, the sound slightly alien in nature coming from a distance.. "Excellent work! Excellent work detective!" he said, as Blue and Genjo clapped with him. "We were right to tip you off about Kusanagi!"

"Tip? Isn't that the one you give to waiters?" Goku asked Zeia who just smiled and sweatdropped.

Jei scoffed. "You guys used me…" he said, tossing to Blue a small mechanical bug. "And bugged my house, too." He scowled at the boys one at a time. "For rich kids, you guys aren't that bad… but it doesn't mean that I like you guys for doing what you did."

"Okay, the Feared Children part is explained… but where does the Sanzo-ikko come in?" Blue asked, using his anime terminology to use. "They aren't here by accident… I'm sure of that."

"I might be able to explain that…" Goku said, not entirely having his full attention on the subject. "There's this Prophecy Kanzeon told us about…" he could sense that everyone in the room hung on to his every word. "But I can't remember."

"You're weird…" the majority of them said, while Haku laughed quietly and recited the Great Prophecy.

"Twin stars that shine equally bright will be born on the year of peace although their sign, as other say, means war. A smaller star, a kin, will follow them, whose sign resembles peace but the year is the start of chaos. When the blue planet has circled seventeen times around the twins and sixteen for the other, sorrow will follow one after the other, for the twin closer to the to the small one will fade, only to reappear after the blue planet has circled the remaining two once more. When the time has come, their powers will be revealed to perform a task no one else can accomplish but them. Four are destined to help, each with very different characters but their past binds them strongly together. Challenges will come the stars' way but these are tests to prove if they are worthy of their name as a legendary star. One long gone will soon return and a new star will be born."

"Where the heck do you get those things??" Genjo cried in disbelief, wiping a bookshelf with a vengeance. "I've been trying to research on that stuff for over a year now!" he glanced at everyone in the room. "But the prophecy doesn't seem to apply anymore…"

"What do you mean?" Goku asked, his eyes filling with curiosity.

"He means that the prophecy no longer speak of the Kazuya siblings alone," Zeia answered, not looking away from the view outside.

"Okay, I got that part… but what do you mean the Kazuya siblings?" Goku asked again. This was more confusing than the last.

"The only reason that Kusanagi has been targeting Linlin and her brothers was because she and her men have thought they were the only Feared Children…" Jei explained. "And that was why she's been sending clues as to who she was going to kill… that Sapphire jewel from the bank.. the color of the siblings' eyes… the mechanical parts… meaning that she had divided, and would soon conquer."

"And _they_ knew this too because?" Linlin asked in behalf of Goku whose head seemed too full to process anymore. "What do you mean _had_ divided?"

"The boys were the ones tipping me off in all my cases… what I know, they know," Jei answered then hesitated to answer the other question. "_Had_, because Kusanagi had. " It was a finished sentence.

* * *

"Can't this thing go any faster?!" Gojyo demanded, as Hakkai drove the BMW downtown. "We have to get to them before these whack jocks following us get to them!" He said, pointing at the ninjas chasing the car, while Sanzo shot them one by one.

"I'm sorry, Gojyo! But this is the fastest it can go!' Hakkai replied, hitting the ninjas blocking the way. "Don't worry about them too much! Goku's with them!"

"True, but they're too many!" Gojyo replied then saw Linlin and the rest several feet away. "STOP!" he yelled and held on when Hakkai hit the brakes. He quickly jumped out of the car and immediately started taking out the ninjas. Linlin and Zeia were busy protecting Mayumi and Mili while Goku fended off most of the attackers.

"What took you guys so long?" Goku called out to him. "I'm hungry already!"

"You're always hungry baka saru!" Gojyo yelled back and avoided the ninja Goku threw at him. He struck his shaku-jo thru the ninja's heart and aimed for another at a distance. He looked around for Linlin and that Zeia girl and found them fighting the ninjas with their bare hands. The ninjas seemed to just keep on coming. "Hey Sanzo! Isn't it about time you used that thing?" He glanced at the monk to find him starting to chant. Funny, the sutra seemed out of place without his priestly robes.

"MAKAI TENJOU!!"

The ninjas were wrapped by the spreading sutra and soon, all were gone, as if they weren't even there. Gojyo sighed and sat on the ground.

"Tired already, ero kappa?" Goku teased, and avoided his blow. "You might think of cutting down on smoking…"

"Shut up.." he mumbled, taking out one of his Hi-Lites. "I'm just relieved you guys are okay!"

"Whatever…"

"Maa, maa!" Hakkai said, raising his arms, as if stopping the fight. "With all this excitement over, shall we get going and escort Zeia home?"

In the shadows, lurked a being, and had witnessed everything. He slowly shrank back to the darkness…. the masters must know!


	8. Training

* * *

**Summer Snow**

**curiouzkatt:** I am sooo having a bad headache…. So sorry if this one took longer than it should have been posted…. I'm kinda thinking of stopping… this is becoming original fanfic already…. rinsaku Kimura -san

**Disclaimer**: curiouzkatt: zzzzzzzzzz…..

WHACK!!

curiouzkatt: I DON"T OWN SAIYUKI!!

katt: man! Why do I get hit so much?

Sanzo: because you keep trying to own copyrighted characters!

katt: you're being mean!

Sanzo: I'm just telling the truth!

katt: hage!

Sanzo: do you want another bump on your head?!

Hakkai: ; maa, maa! Here's chapter eight!

* * *

**Chapter Eight: Training  
**

Mayumi stared at the puddle of water in front of her. It was Monday afternoon and she was at the rooftop of the school with Mili, Zeia and Linlin– trying to practice. With Goku still at detention, they had time to spare before going home. She had agreed to train, but she didn't like the idea of summoning her powers.

"Mayumi.. are you even listening to me?" Linlin's voice tore through her thoughts. "You need to focus more!" She looked at her friend then hung her head, mumbling an apology.

"Hey! Aren't you just a bit demanding here?" Mili burst out, stepping on the puddle and causing it to ripple. "You know Mayumi can't concentrate easily!"

"But she must try!" Linlin shot back, checking her temper. Nothing would happen if both of them flew into rage. "Zeia and I won't always be there to protect you! The first step to controlling your powers is finding your center! If you find your center, mastery and control will follow!"

"And how do you know all that?" Mili asked, her voice still not toning down. "You don't have powers like us! You have no idea how we feel about having this kind of power with constant fear that we might blow up the next person!" she shook her head. "Kusanagi must've been misled all this time!" her friend wasn't reacting. "And you're not the boss of us either! What makes you think we'll follow you just because you say so? You're just a spoiled rich kid who can't get over her brother's death!" She clapped a hand over her mouth. She didn't mean to say that! To her surprise, Linlin just turned around and walked away. Only her footsteps and the opening and closing of the metal door were heard. Zeia and Mayumi were quiet as well.

"Mili! That was plain mean.." Mayumi scolded. "It wasn't like you at all!" Mili just hung her head. The door opened and closed again and they were left alone. "We don't really know what happened to her brother back then.. we don't know why she really is in so much pain." Mayumi felt her ears grow hot she had never been this angry about anything before.

"Yes, that's true, but you know, sometimes, I just can't help but feel that I envy her." Mili muttered, scoffing at the floor. "Despite all this pain, she's so lucky with what she has and she acts like this. It annoys me at times. Alex is dead, but we're not. It's like she buried herself with him already. It hurts to see her like this."

Mayumi mulled this over. "True, but that wasn't what you said."

"I know..."

Zeia found Linlin by the foot of the staircase and sat beside her. She took note of the ice bolts protruding at strange angles on all the walls of the path. Linlin was still quiet.

"She had a point though…" the sudden voice made her jump slightly. "Who am I to lead?"

"You are someone who understands your friends although they don't think you do," Zeia answered. "Having gone through what they're going through, you know what has to be done." She paused. "I really thought you were going to lose it up there…"

Linlin scoffed. "I almost did… if my uncle hadn't taught me how to keep a rein on my temper – I would have."

"And I would've lost another family…."

Linlin glanced at Zeia, wanting to apologize. She remembered the dream she had about Zeia's past and all the emotions involved in it. She had woken up with ice bolts all over her bedroom.

"Zeia! Zeia!" Mili yelled, slamming the door open. "It's Mayumi!" Zeia quickly ran up back to the rooftop, followed closely by Linlin. It turns out that Mayumi had somehow managed to turn her hair into a spectrum of colors.

"I can't turn it back!" Mayumi cried, tears brimming in her eyes. She was panicking. "What if it's stuck like this forever?"

Forgetting the current problems, Linlin started giving out instructions to her friend. "Mayumi… calm down!" she said firmly, holding her friend's hand encouragingly. "Allow yourself to relax and think of your hair back to normal! Calm down…"

Mayumi followed what her friend was telling her, closing her eyes and took deep breaths. She wasn't sure if this was going to work, but her previous panicking wasn't going to help in any way. She tried to feel for her magic, and imagined her hair slowly turning back to normal.

"You did it Mayumi!" she heard Mili cry and finally opened her eyes, seeing for herself that she had indeed done it. She looked at Linlin who had already walked off a distance from her. She saw the she was glad, but she walked away from them for the second time.

* * *

"See you guys tomorrow!" Mili called out as they parted ways. It was cool what her friend could do and couldn't wait to try out her powers. She stopped. She didn't know how…. They needed Linlin. She sighed. She was wrong to have said what she had said and she had to apologize.

Mayumi walked dejectedly home. If it weren't for Linlin, she would've ended up shaving her head when she got home. Either that or her mom would send her to a boarding school. She absently patted a lamppost as she passed it. Her mother could be unfeeling sometimes….

Unknown to her, a ninja had been on top of that post. He had been watching her since she parted with her friends. He had to have something to report to his masters. He moved to follow, but his feet seemed stuck. Looking down, he found that his feet had turned to ice and soon, half of his body was frozen. He could no longer balance himself and fell into the dumpster below.

TLEET TLEET! TLEET TLEET!

"Oh no!" he muttered as he heard the engine of the garbage collector come nearer. He couldn't move! The ice had crept up to his arms – he was doomed.

"Okay! Haul 'er in!" he heard them say. He tried to yell, but he was already muted by the ice. Only Fate knew what would happen to him.

When the ice finally melted, he found himself in the city dumpsite – eight kilometers away. He sighed. "I should've taken up accounting…"

* * *

Goku searched for food he could easily nick and found just that on Gojyo's plate. He looked at the red head and pointed at his plate. "Are you going to eat that?" he didn't wait for a reply and devoured the food in an instant.

"Hey! I was going to eat that!" Gojyo complained, hitting the saru.

"Itai! But I'm still hungry!"

"You're always hungry!"

Hakkai smiled and sweatdropped, trying to stop the bickering two before Sanzo got mad. He looked at the monk, but the man seemed oblivious to the two's arguing. He followed his gaze and realized that the monk was observing Linlin who had been acting strange ever since they picked her up from school that afternoon. As soon as he had thought of it, the girl stood up and left the room. He was quite positive that this was the situation Sanzo was complaining about and ignored him when Shun came out of the kitchen with a giant cake on a cart.

"Time for dessert!" he announced, accepting the help from Hakkai who distributed the cake to everyone. He looked around and didn't find Sanzo. He turned to the green-eyed man. "Where's Sanzo?"

"I don't know…" Hakkai fibbed, smiling at Shun. "He may have gone out to get some air."

"To get some air my ass…" Sanzo muttered under his breath as he slowly climbed the stairs to the main balcony. Why the hell did Kanzeon want _him_ to talk to the girl? It wasn't his bloody problem! He stopped at the doorway and searched for the girl. She was on the far side of her own balcony. Leaning on the ledge, he took one of his Marlboros and started to smoke. Of all the people that he had met, this one who most denied emotions or any sign of weakness – almost kind of like him, but her weakness was blaming herself for the death of Alex.

"What do you want?" he heard her say, her voice sounding irritated. "Are you here to dump some Philosophy stuff on me?"

"No…" he mumbled, puffing out smoke. "Why should I? You wouldn't listen anyway – you never listen to anyone."

"I resent that…"

"Hn.." he stared at the half moon in the sky. "Always look beyond what you perceive."

Linlin felt the wind knocked out of her as she thought of those words over and over. Mili's actions, Zeia's words...

That's right… always look beyond. Hakkai had asked her why she still looked hurt. The answer seemed unfathomable at that time, but now, it seemed so near. She was still hurt because she let the past into the present, not leaving it where it should have been – a memory, a guide to the future. She relived the moment of her brother's death and blamed herself instead of seeing a lesson to it. Nothing in life will always be the same and nothing will always be fair and just. She felt a surge of chill run through her and realized that she had let her emotions out. Ice bolts surrounded her and it took all her will to stop them from flying in all directions. The ice tinkled as they fell and slowly melted away. She had to be more careful… she stood up and went inside her room, pausing at the doorway, looking at Sanzo. "Thanks."

"Ch!" Sanzo's cigarette had run out and he flicked it away. "I didn't do anything."

Linlin walked in the direction of the stairs that lead to the school's rooftop. Several feet away, she spotted Mili waiting. She stopped. Was her friend going to yell at her again? She moved to turn back and avoid confrontation.

"I didn't wait here to yell at you…" Mili started, stopping her in her tracks. "I'm… I'm here to apologize…" she watched as her friend scoff the floor sheepishly. "I didn't mean to say those things I said… it's just that I was freaked out… you know?" Linlin gave her friend a small smile and slung an arm over her shoulders. She could tell that her friend was a little surprised with the action. "S-so… are we cool?"

"Cooler than you'll ever know."

When they got to the top, Zeia had already started guiding Mayumi on how to focus. Linlin made Mili face her and grinned. "Your turn."

"What am I supposed to do?" Mili asked, her hands growing clammy. The last time she was this nervous was when she went onstage and danced a solo. "Try finding my center and all that stuff?"

"Yes."

She groaned and readied herself to concentrate. She followed what Linlin showed her, taking deep, even breaths, trying to think of nothing at all – then she felt it. A surge of power within her, the rage and strength of all the animals known on the planet. She gasped, falling to her knees as she tried to contain it, hearing Linlin's calm voice telling her to show who was in the power subsided, she looked at her hands, feeling it race inside of her…

"Wow…" she heard Mayumi say, clapping for her. "That was amazing!"

She smiled at her and thought…then what? She pointed this question at Linlin.

"We still don't know that ability of your power…" she confided. "Try something."

"Like what?" Mili asked, wiping sweat off her forehead. "It's not like I can blast demons like Hakkai!"

"She's got a point…" Zeia muttered thoughtfully, fingering her locket and looking at Linlin. "Any ideas?"

"Hmmm… how would you react if your life was threatened?" Linlin suggested. Mili sighed and shook her head. She knew she wouldn't be able to imagine it. She saw her friend raise her arms to shoulder level, pointed at her, "React to this!" she cried, as the air seemed to grow colder and ice bolts formed in the space between her hands. Fear took over Mili as her mind blacked out. She heard voices speaking to her, all at the same time, - none of them were clear but one…

She tried searching the darkness, looking for the voice…

_"You are still weak!"_

_"Who are you?!" _she called out, but the voice didn't answer. She felt someone behind her, making her wheel around and faced a giant feline face – a lioness.

_"You cannot contain me yet!"  
_

"Miil! STOP!" Mili snapped awake at the voice of her friends and realized that she had Linlin pinned down to the ground with her – paws? What was going on? She slowly backed away from Linlin, looking at herself, bending left and right. She was a lion. She looked at her friends who stared at her fearfully.

_Yo__u can feel it… can't you?_" the voice within her uttered. _The fear from your prey!_ Her heart was starting to beat faster as a thirst for blood came to her mind. She closed her eyes… she was losing to it!

"Don't let it take over!" Linlin yelled, forcing her to think – focus. "Turn yourself back! Calm down!" she slowly felt herself turning back, shrinking back to her original self. She opened her eyes and looked at her hands. She could feel her friends' tensed emotions go down.

"I think that was a bit too extreme, Linlin…" Zeia said, helping the blonde up on her feet. Mili then noticed that Linlin's arms were bleeding. She gasped in horror. Did she do that?

"Linlin! I didn't mean to!" she cried, rushing to her friend and holding her arms, examining the wounds. "We have to get you to the clinic!" Her friend jerked her arms away from her grasp.

"I'm fine…" Linlin muttered, bringing out a first aid kit from her bag. She was surprised that her friend had one. She walked over and volunteered to clean and dress the wounds. It was her fault after all. Linlin quietly watched her. "And besides… what would we tell the nurse? That we got attacked on the rooftop?"

Mili laughed quietly. "You have a point…"

"This is too much excitement for one day!" Mayumi exclaimed, raising her arms to the sky. Moments later, pieces of paper fell from the sky, almost covering the four girls under. She looked at the other three sheepishly. "Sorry…"

Zeia took one of the papers and realized that it was their killer science test that afternoon. Her eyes widened and looked at her "student". "You have to put them back!" she said, showing the paper to Mayumi.

"But I don't know how!' she cried.

"Remember what I taught you!" Zeia insisted and watched Mayumi close her eyes calmly and let her magic flow out and onto the test papers. But instead of retuning, she had managed to stack the papers neatly. Mili checked them and announced that they were arranged alphabetically, per class and per year level. She glanced at the sun that was halfway down the horizon. "It's not what I expected… but it'll have to do.." she took her pack from the corner. "We have to leave for now… it's getting late." As they made their way out of the building, they heard various rumors from passing practice teachers that all the test papers in the faculty had vanished. Some say that a ghost had done it, and some still, said that a monster ate them. That would've been possible in Togenkyo, but in this world, they will force to think of a logical explanation in their own terms. She quietly snapped her fingers, returning the test papers to their proper places. She grinned to herself, imagining the shocked expression of the teachers when they find the test papers back.

"There you are, Linlin!' Hakkai exclaimed, greeting them by the hallway to the school's front yard. "We were getting worried! What happened to your arms?'

"Nothing.." Linlin answered frankly.

"If you say so… but I'll still have a look at those wounds when we get home." Hakkai looked at the other three. "We can escort you ladies as well if you'd like…"

Zeia shook her head. "Thanks for the offer, Hakkai," she said. "But my house isn't that far from here. I'll just walk." She heard Mili and Mayumi turn down Hakkai's offer and they were soon on their way home. None of the two were in the mood to talk. Who would, when they just went through an afternoon of learning how to control themselves from "not blowing up the next person"? The wind called to her as it gently passed, caressing her hair and face. This place was so peaceful… but it could never compare to Togenkyo, even though it was chaotic at that moment. Reaching home, she was greeted by her mother who gave her a warm hug.

"How come you're late?" her brother Tenro scowled at her, demanding an answer. "It's not like they dumped you with test papers!"

_You don't know half of it…_ Zeia thought, ignoring her little brother completely and entered her room, lying down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. It was kind of strange to have a family again… somehow, she felt like a secret agent, acting like a daughter to this unsuspecting family. But it wasn't the case. The gods in Tenkai had arranged this so she can search for the answers she was looking for, but she knew that it would also hurt her when the time to part with this family would come.

**ZZAAP!**

The sudden lightning hit the electric post outside and the house was suddenly engulfed in darkness. She snapped her fingers and the candle across the room lit up. She flopped back down. What was going to happen next?

* * *

Sanzo faced his class that morning with his reading glasses on and a piece of paper from the principal. Some of the girls had fainted again, but he ignored it. He hit the table with his pointer to make the class quiet then cleared his throat.

"The principal wishes to tell all of you that all your tests yesterday will be marked invalid," he began, rereading the note while his students whined their complaints. "It appears that someone had played a prank yesterday afternoon and hid the said papers all over the school, then put them back."

"What will happen to those poor delinquents?" Maria asked, using her sweetest voice, as if to charm the un-charm-able Genjo Sanzo-sama who reread the paper once again.

"Nothing." He replied to his student, putting down the paper on his table. "Someone will simply investigate on who did it… and that's it… the papers weren't tainted… they were simply displaced." Sanzo explained then tapped his pointer on his other hand. "Any more questions?"

"Just one sir!" Miles spoke up, raising his hand. "When they catch those delinquents, aren't they going to ask _why_ they did such as thing as that? Something like what's their cause and what would be the effect?"

"There is no such thing as cause and effect…" Sanzo answered and started to write the name "Hume" on the board. "Because impressions are separate from each other." He said and looked at his class. "That is our lesson for today by the way…"

The whole class groaned at Sanzo's statement as he started to explain the philosophy of Hume. Mayumi wasn't paying attention. She was nervous… what if they found out that she was the one responsible? Her friends would get mixed up in it! And she doesn't think that the tables would turn in their favor this time. Just as she had thought of it, all the tables gave a funny jump. Everyone in the room thought it was an earthquake. The P.A. system turned on.

"Announcement…. Your tests will be valid again…." The principal announced. "Someone has confessed of doing this prank and he has already been forgiven. No further questions shall be asked about it. PERIOD!" Mayumi winced and the feedback their principal's voice created. Who had admitted the fault? Most importantly, _why_?

* * *

Due to the previous accidents their P.E. teacher had, they were now always being sent to the library to research on things that were actually _in_ the curriculum. As they walked to the library, they saw several boys carrying a paper imitation of a ninja. They all found this unusual and went on their way, not noticing that a pair of eyes watched them.

* * *

Petting Hakuryu, Hakkai watched as the clothes in the dryer turned and tumbled. Mrs. Kazuya had taught him how to use it and he thought it was quite convenient. This world had so many interesting things and he slightly wished he could learn more. The dryer gave off a sound as it stopped and the clothes settled to its bottom. Hakuryu flew off and perched on top of the dryer as Hakkai took out the clothes and put them in a laundry basket.

"Ah, I see that you're done, Hakkai…" he looked at the doorway and smiled at Linlin's mother. "Let me take those outside."

"I'll do it…" he volunteered, but Mrs. Kazuya would hear none of it and ordered him to prepare tea.

* * *

"Why did you do it?" Mayumi demanded from Blue who was grinning at her. "Why did you claim doing that?" The blue-haired boy just kept smiling at her and brought out a gizmo out of his backpack.

"I did it because I had nothing to lose! I just told her I was experimenting on another gadget… and that was it…" he answered and handed her a green headband. "Here… it's a communicator." He explained, and handed Zeia a hair clip, Mili a ring and Linlin a pendant. "It operates with the power within!" he was starting to sound like an advertiser. "Isn't that a fantastic offer? Only at the price of not getting in trouble!"

"Gee... in our situation... that's a pretty high price!" Linlin said sarcastically, handing the pendant back to blue. "I already have a pendant and I don't like any other."

Blue grinned at her. "I knew you were going to say something like that!" he dug into his pocket and produced a pair of crystal orange earrings. "So I made these..." he looked at Linlin's ears. "You _do _have a place for these… don't you?"

Linlin rolled her eyes, took the earrings and put them through the piercing of her ears just as Jei and Haku opened the door to the rooftop. They didn't look very happy.

"You guys should be more careful!" he scolded them at once, showing them pictures from the hidden surveillance cameras. "If we weren't the ones in charge with security, you guys would've been busted long ago." Zeia took the pictures from him and used her magic to turn the photos into new images. It was still them, but they weren't doing their training. Mayumi stared dreamily at Zeia, wishing she could do the same.

"We understand…" Linlin said and thanked Jei, The young sleuth had a funny look on his face and she noted on it, only to make his cheeks red. "What's wrong with you?"

Haku noticed the speechlessness of his partner and thought of a quick fib. "Er, we still have to… go… settle that paranormal activity this morning!" Haku said quickly and pulled Jei to the door to the stairs.

"But, didn't we fix that already – ow!" Blue rubbed his rib cage and glared at Vincent whose purple eyes told him to shut up. "But – ow!" This time it was Yuri on his other side. "Hey! I'm not a poking bag!"

"See you guys around!" Haku called, closing the door. He turned to his partner. "What _is_ wrong with you? You just saw Linlin and those…" then it hit him. "…orange earrings!" he slyly grinned at Jei who did his best ignoring him as they walked down. "The color blue is beautiful on its own and so is orange!" Haku was much more cheerful than usual.

"So? What's your point?" Jei said, refusing to look at Haku. "It doesn't have anything to do with our case!"

"But in my case, it does!" Haku exclaimed, following his friend like a happy puppy.

"What case?"

"The mysterious mood of Jei Murikawa!" Haku said then thought of spilling it out. "Around a certain short-haired blonde with sapphire blue eyes…"

"Haku?"

"Yes?"

"Do me a favor and shut up!"

"Oww… that hurts!" Haku said, making his voice pitiful. "It's one of my rarest moods!"

"And a good reason it should stay rare!" Jei muttered as they exited the school. He just wished his friend would go back to his serious mood already.

"Hey, did you know that orange and blue are contrasting colors?" Haku said and when he got a 'so what', he continued. "Blue brings out orange… and orange makes blue even more beautiful!" he exclaimed and started to tease. "Someone's got a crush!"

* * *

"Hey! Careful with that thing!" Mili cried as she avoided the floating giant ball of ice Linlin had conjured. They had decided that Mayumi's power was less dangerous than hers… but at this rate, facing another lion might be easier. "Someone might get crushed!" She watched as her friend successfully broke down the ball into smaller pieces and make it vanish. "Hey, where'd you let it disappear to?" she asked, amazed at how her friend executed all that flawlessly.

Mayumi shrugged. "I don't know…"

Not too far away, the ninja's teeth chattered with cold. He wasn't very lucky with this job and he's had it!

"Okay, Mili… it's your turn," Zeia called to her, making her start a little.

"Are you sure?" she asked, uncertain she won't turn into a lion again.

"Positive."

"Let's just try something easier," Linlin said, looking around. "How about trying to fly?"

"Um, I d-don't…" Mili started, but then took a deep breath and tried to focus.

"Think of what you will turn into…" she heard Linlin's voice, then tried to think of the wind, wanting to fly to the sky, and just let the wind take her to the infinite blue. She felt the change happening, tested her wings and took off.

The ninja bid his time and waited until the girl flew close. He grabbed her tight and showed himself to her friends. "You Feared Children are going down!"

* * *

Sanzo made his way through the empty maze-like corridors of the school, looking for Linlin and her friends. They had to stop wandering on their own! The enemy could attack from any angle possible! He tisked. He was taking his role as a teacher too seriously…

"You don't understand!"

He stopped in his tracks. Someone was still there! He peeked round the corner and spotted the English teacher and the coach talking in a suspicious way. He waited for the other to speak.

"It had to be done!" the woman said, glaring fiercely at the coach.

"You wasted over forty of our men and that's all you have to say!?" that coach spat back. "'It had to be done!'" he quoted. "But nothing happened! We just lost! I'm telling you… we should analyze what these Feared Children can do!"

The other teacher scoffed. "Right… Just send one ninja to spy on them…" she drawled. "But your ninja never returned! Nothing happened there either!"

"I specifically told him not to come back until he had gathered all the necessary data!"

"Excuses!"

Sanzo decided to leave, but felt a katana pressed against the back of his neck. The ninja took his gun and led him to the teachers.

"Well, well…what do we have here?" Miss Mala said, looking him over. "The new teacher.. Mr. Genjo Sanzo!" she shook her head. "So handsome and yet so nosy… a pity you have to die..."

"I'm sorry, but we can't let you live…" said the coach confidently. Sanzo took this opportunity to take out the ninja with its own katana and retrieve his gun. He cocked his gun at the coach.

"Right back at you…"

**TZIING!**

Crows in nearby trees flew in alarm, alerting the four girls on the rooftop and the three members of the Sanzo-ikko at the grounds. Zeia was quick on her feet and was gone in a moment. The other three followed with Mayumi carrying something in her hands. They saw Hakkai and Gojyo running to the direction of the sound of the gunshot and called to them.

"Hakkai!"

Hakkai turned to find three of the four girls catching up to them and slowed down. "What's the matter?" he was even more puzzled when Mayumi handed him a piece of food. Rice with a slice of raw fish on top. He gave them a questioning look.

"Well, you, see, we were practicing on the rooftop…" Mili began breathlessly.

"When this ninja came out of nowhere!" Mayumi added. "I – I panicked and…"

"You turned him into sushi!?" Gojyo finished, disbelieving his own conclusion. "Quick! Keep it before – "

"Harahetta! Is that some food?"

"Goku! No!"

The sushi disappeared in a split second. Gojyo reacted immediately and tried any method possible just to make Goku spit it out. "Choke it out saru!" he yelled, but it seemed to become futile by the moment. "You don't chew your food! Spit it out!"

Goku got loose from Gojyo's grasp and looked indignant. "I always chew my food!" he said. "How else would I not get indigestion?"

A loud crashing noise that was followed by an earth shattering quake knocked them off their feet brought them back to the still unknown situation at hand. Goku ran ahead of them until they got to the end of the left wing, which was mostly destroyed by the giant sphinx like being that now stood there. The whole place reeked of demonic energy that they could almost taste it… but if it was a scent, it would have probably been something really awful. Zeia was already there, very much on the alert. Goku went to Sanzo's side and got whacked by the infamous paper fan.

"Itai! What was that for?" Goku complained, pouting at the monk.

"You're late,"

As if agreeing with him, the sphinx brought up its large paw and swiped at them with its claws.

* * *


	9. The Battle Before the War

**Summer Snow**

(yeah, I know, this has been waaaaaaaaay long overdue. I was debating myself to revise for the umpteenth time, but there was this voice in my head that was stabbing me with daggers already. xD) And yes, I know, there should be more Saiyuki charats involvement, but with how the chapters have been laid out, I'm keeping what's been done and revise once I've finished this fic. I'll try to involve them more in future chapters. At the moment I just want closure with this fic. Note, Chapters 7 and 8 have been edited to accomodate some past loopholes... so yeah, better check them out first before moving on. :3b

**Disclaimer:** I DON"T OWN SAIYUKI!!

* * *

**Chapter Nine: The Battle Before the War**

Dust billowed all over the gymnasium as the huge clawed paw struck down. The monster only became more enraged at the sight of an empty kill. It only roared in frustration and struck down at them again and again. Sanzo, with his gun at the ready, tried a few shots, but the monster's fur seemed to be made of stone. "Ch! It's going to bring down the whole place if we don't defeat it in time!"

** KWIIN!**

Sanzo ducked in time to avoid flying debris from Mayumi. He glared at the girl. "Watch where you're aiming!" The girl yelled an apology after him as he watched the debris do nothing more than practically tickle the giant creature. He heard Zeia lecture Mayumi at aiming and tried to immobilize the creature herself, but to no avail. "This isn't working!"

Linlin avoided another swipe and spotted a small jewel on the monster's chest. She helped Mili up… the girl seemed gripped with fear that she couldn't concentrate at all. She turned to Sanzo's direction. "There's a jewel on its chest!" she yelled. "Maybe if we hit it – "

** TZIING!**

The sphinx roared in pain and it looked like it was disintegrating, but it was actually dividing into smaller replicas, which were nastier, and ten times faster. They were immediately on defense, trying to block the numerous creatures at the same time. Although all of this was going on, Linlin found the time to yell at Sanzo. "That was a stupid move! I noted it so that someone will figure if it was a good or bad idea!"

"Ch! I shot it because it would've killed us already before any could have thought of what to do!" he shot several of them, nearly hitting Gojyo in the process who yelled at him for being corrupt and uncaring. "The time it takes one to think is the same as the time it takes for one to die!"

_"Whoa! Has he been watching National Geographic or something?"_

Linlin, Mayumi, Mili and Zeia stopped at Genjo's voice. Where did the voice come from?

"Genjo?" Linlin asked and scowled at Sanzo when he looked at her. "I thought this thing only worked when we channeled our energy into it?"

_"Well, you've been using too much energy for a while now…"_ it was Blue this time. _"We've been hearing your conversations since we got here from school!_ he paused. "_Including the sushi bit…"_ she heard the boys chuckle on the other end, and then Mayumi yelling at them in a panicked way.

"Can't you guys help us in the least?" she said, unable to keep her voice down. "There's a giant sphinx in the left wing of the school!"

"_At school?"_ Otaku interjected. _"Yeah! No classes tomorrow!"_

"Guys, we're being serious!" Zeia yelled as well, becoming impatient as she threw large pieces of debris at the ones attacking her.

_"Chill it!"_

The girls weren't quite sure who it was but listened intently for the instructions. _"We have explosive bots in the storage room in the second floor…"_

"You have _explosive bots _in school!?"

_"Never mind that! Now…is there anyone fast enough to get them?"_

"I'll do it!" Mili volunteered and transformed into a cheetah and was off.

"Mili! Stop! It might take over!" Linlin yelled and tried to run after her friend but was blocked by several sphinx replicas, their beady eyes glinting at her. "This is getting annoying."

Mili easily found the bots with their smell even though they were in a large container. She quickly changed into a giant eagle and took the box with her claws. _"Careful Mili! Those bots are highly explosive!"_ She did her best to be careful and dropped the explosives to Hakkai who caught them. _"Just stick one on them and you'll have a good show!"_

"Are these edible?"

"NO!!" the girls yelled in unison before Goku could even touch one. He took a handful dejectedly and started placing them on the sphinxes. "I was only asking!" The explosions were quite minimal, but it blew the sphinxes to dust.

~*~*~*~*

Kusanagi slammed her fist on the table and looked at her subordinates who reported back. "This shouldn't be happening!" she yelled, making the ninjas cringe. "Why did Mala lose? Answer me!" One brave ninja stepped forward. "Well?"

"The Feared Children seem to have help from several computer kids…" he began. "They supply them with information and gadgets to aid them in battle." When his master did not speak, he continued. "The others have also located their hideout in the park…"

Kusanagi stood up abruptly, toppling her chair as she walked out of the room. "All of you! Come with me… I will deal with these brats myself!"

~*~*~*~*

"Are we not the greatest?" Blue cheered as they listened in on how the others were successfully destroying the enemy. "We really have to get those things patented!"

"And what, get the army turn it against us?" Vincent shot back. "No thank you."

"Well there might be others who would be intereste-"

**_CRRAAAAAASSSSH!!_**

The boys managed to duck the debris from the broken glass of their hideout and see Kusanagi stand before them, her eyes livid with anger. Kusanagi smiled at them, and before any of them could react, she had her metal tentacle like weapons protruding through her body and aimed at them. All tried to evade, but Genjo and Yuri got hit directly on the head, an unmistakable sickening cracking sound was heard and blood spattering everywhere. Rikku, Otaku, Blue, and Vincent only got minor injuries and tried their best not to let the wave of nausea take over.

"Damn bitch! This is for Genjo and Yuri!!" Otaku yelled and was swiftly taken out with a sharp tentacle to the neck. Kusanagi smiled even wider and waved her tentacles in a frenzy, killing anything that got in her way, even her subordinates. When she stopped, nothing moved, for nothing more was alive. She gave out a satisfied laugh and disappeared.

* * *

"Wow… these _are_ effective!" Mayumi praised, levitating several bots and landing them on the monsters. Mili, on the other hand, ran around as a little monkey and placed bots with swiftness that matched Zeia's and Goku's. They were having so much fun going about destroying the miniature sphinxes that almost no one heard the commotion going on in the tree house. Zeia picked this up and quietly left for the tree house on her own. She assumed that they would be slowed down if she had told the others.

Before long, there was no part of the sphinx to be seen anywhere. Mili turned back into a girl and grinned at Linlin who had a frown on her face.

"I'm getting used to this!" she piped up and received a light bonk on the head from her 'instructor'. "Ouch! What was that for?" she could see that her friend was mustering all the anger she could.

"You shouldn't have run off like that!" she lectured, turning away. "You would've been more trouble if you lost control!" the others were silent as well. Linlin started to walk to the direction of the exit. "Let's go before the police gets here." Hakkai smiled at Mili who grinned back. They were all proud of Mili, and they knew that Linlin was, too. She just didn't know how to say it – just like a certain purple-eyed blond.

Linlin was indeed proud, but something was not sitting well with her. There was static coming from their communicators. Linlin stopped in her tracks. "Where's Zeia?" Mili gasped as some sort of laughter emanated from their communicators, and it left cold fear in her stomach. The tree house! Without a second thought, Mili transformed into a hawk and flew out in the direction of Neri Park.

"We have to go there now!" Linlin yelled, jumping out the nearest window to run in the direction of the park as well. Gojyo yelled after her to stop and think, but Goku had pushed him over to run after Linlin leaving the poor red head to hold on for his life.

"HELP!!" he yelled, having a hard time clambering up the window. Hakkai was only staring at him, along with Mayumi. There was something wrong with this scene. Sanzo had this strange smile on this face, like a constipated yet happy man.

"G-gojyo-san, we're only on the first floor.." Mayumi said quietly, suppressing her laughter. Sanzo took this as his cue and whacked Gojyo loudly on the head, and the man fell to the ground outside, dizzy.

"Idiot…"

"Come on, we have to stop fooling around and catch up with them." Hakkai said cheerfully as he called on Hakuryu. "I'm afraid this day is far from over."

~*~*~*~*

Zeia was already at Neri Park and ran swiftly to the tree house. She had heard the whole exchange and prayed for the safety of the six. When she reached the edge of the creek, she was almost engulfed in fear. The tree house was totally destroyed, and it still burned. She quickly jumped up, and looked around. She picked her way through the rubble and tripped over something and ended up staring into Otaku's blank orange eyes. She gasped and quickly stood up, realizing that it was only the boy's head, blood still pooling around it. She frantically gazed around, finding the others all dead. She slowly backed away and hit something that moaned. She quickly turned around and saw the Blue, barely conscious.

"Blue!" she called his name. The boy looked at her with his good eye. The boy was badly hurt, but he wasn't in danger of dying. "Don't worry, I'll get help!" she heard a high pitched laugh and Kusanagi materialized in front of them. She felt her blood rush in her veins, as hatred filled her. The intricate designs on her locket started to fill with blood, as she started to remember her past, and seemed to be lost in it. Unknown to her, her hair had grown longer, and that another consciousness had taken over.

"Let this serve as a warning to you… Feared Children!" she said with an evil smile but did not expect the girl to attack in such a short span of time. She gasped when she realized she was no longer facing the girl Zeia, but she was now up against Zennen Kazei. The girl had wounded her side badly, and she could do nothing but retreat. She slowly vanished and watched Zennen Kazei jump out of the tree house and fight her own friend. "This should be fun…" she disappeared completely and let another show take place.

Mili avoided an attack just in time and barely recognized Zeia with her long hair, and uncontrollable strength. She focused on trying to hold down her friend and transformed into a snake, careful that she didn't hurt Zeia. The girl only thrashed even more. "Zeia! What's gotten into you?" she asked and got clawed. She winced and transformed into an eagle, out of reach. "It's me! Mili!" She couldn't figure out what had happened to her friend. She risked a glance at the tree house and found it burned down. In her shock, she failed to avoid the magical energy thrown at her, making her turn back into a girl and fall into the shallow creek. She forced herself to get back up. The Rainbow Brothers were dead… and Zeia had killed them.

~*~*~*~*

Linlin was now running beside Goku as they tried their best to get to the park as fast as they could. Something was terribly wrong, and she knew that Kusanagi was behind it. They heard squealing tires from behind them and saw that Hakuryu had caught up with them. They immediately hopped on and were rewarded by bonks on the head with Sanzo's fan.

"Owww!" The two kids exclaimed, glaring at the monk.

"Ch! What's the point of wasting your energy like that, huh?"

Linlin didn't say anything, but Goku proceeded to argue with the monk, and then later on with Gojyo. But however, they all turned serious once the burning tree house came into view, with Zeia and Mili fighting just outside.

~*~*~*~*

Mili avoided every blow that Zeia threw at her and tried to attack with all her strength, but Zeia was too fast and was also losing life force as the battle ensued. Mili was too blinded with rage to notice this, and continued to attack, until Zeia collapsed. Mili turned back into her human form and picked up Zeia then started to slap her over and over.

"We trusted you! How could you do this to us?" she yelled at Zeia who was too weak to defend herself, or even to explain what really happened.

Zeia just wished Kusanagi wouldn't come back for them now. In her weakened state, and Mili's rage, they would easily be dead. She felt someone take Mili by the arms, and felt herself fall to the damp ground. She saw that it was Gojyo and felt secured enough to drift off to sleep.

"Let me go!" Mili yelled, struggling from Gojyo's grip, but the hybrid did not let go no matter how hard she tried. She had to get back to Zeia! "Zeia must pay! She killed the Rainbow Brothers! She must die! She's a traitor!" She saw Mayumi and Linlin approach, and told them to tell Gojyo to let her go. Linlin was looking at her seriously, and nodded to Mayumi who touched her forehead with the tips of her fingers. She heard Linlin say 'Remember what I told you' and felt herself being lulled to sleep. She shook her head and struggled to stay awake. This was magic! What was Mayumi doing to her? She stared at Mayumi who gave her an apologetic look. She couldn't fight the magic anymore, and her mind went blank.

Linlin and Mayumi sighed with relief at the same time when Mili was finally sedated. She put up quite a fight, and Linlin felt sorry that they had to do it. She heard what had happened, and knew it would be hard to explain to someone who was enraged. Mayumi walked to where Hakkai was healing Zeia, and conjured first aid equipments, much to Zeia's amusement at her fast student. Gojyo went to place Mili on the back of the jeep while Linlin just stood on the spot, listening to Zeia explain. It turns out that Kusanagi was really behind the attack. Having seen what had happened to the place and to the brothers, she lost control of he powers when Kusanagi reappeared. She had hit Kusanagi badly before she vanished, and that was when Mili came and attacked her. Zeia had half-thought that Mili had turned over to the enemy, but realized they were just both angry.

Linlin sighed, and went over to the back of the jeep, where Mili had unconsciously turned into a kitten on Gojyo's vest, still fast asleep. She thought of getting into her subconscious, but was called over by Goku and Gojyo to the bottom of the tree house. They looked unusually serious and Linlin wasn't used to it. "What is it?"

"Only one of them survived. The one with blue hair." Gojyo explained, puffing out smoke. Linlin hadn't noticed that Gojyo was smoking. "We can't get him down because he's badly hurt. We'd ask Mayumi to levitate him out, but I don't think the place would agree to your stomachs."

Linlin understood what he meant. "So what do you want me to do? My ice is not compatible with injury."

"Well, there must be something you can do…" Goku said, that curious look in his eyes. When Linlin told him she wasn't sure, he answered back. "You should be sure… it's your power…"

This struck Linlin and made her think. She raised her arms, fixing the ledges of the tree house temporarily with ice. She called out to Mayumi who ran over and listened to Linlin's request of making a stretcher and a pulley to bring down Blue safely. Mayumi conjured up the items and made them levitate to the tree house, where Goku and Gojyo were waiting. Goku grinned at her and she just waved it off. "Okay, okay. You were right…"

"Sankyuu na!" Goku said cheerily and went off to help Gojyo. Not long, they had Blue down, and Linlin started to clean and dress the boy's minor wounds. Hakkai later helped healing the internal injuries while the others tried to decide what to do with the bodies.

"They would want them burned…" Blue said, wanting to get up from his sitting position, but Hakkai and Linlin forced him down, telling him they weren't finished yet, so he stayed down. "It was our plan long before… if we all died, Genjo's uncle, or the pc program would burn down all our life's work, so as to save them from falling into the wrong hands."

"But what about all your data?" Linlin asked, remembering all their bugging and hacking gadgets.

"In case one of us survived, we have a back-up in our boarding house." Blue explained. "The pc program will activate after one week. That is too long a time. We can't leave this place until it's burned down."

"But first, we have to save what can be saved." Zeia stated, calling Mayumi, and they held each other's hands then focused their energy into the tree house, which glowed for only a moment.

Goku blinked. "So what happened?"

"We transported all the items that were still functioning to Linlin's house." Zeia explained, shrugging to Linlin when she gave her a questioning look. "It was the only place big enough." She turned to Blue. "But there's one peculiar item we have to check out immediately."

~*~*~*~*

Cradling the kitten Mili in her arms, Mayumi watched as the tree house gradually burned. Zeia assured them that the fire would totally burn everything in the tree house, but not anything else. But no one wanted to leave, so they all just watched as the house was being totally consumed and slowly falling apart. There were hints of burnt blood once in a while, but nothing more. She looked down at the still sleeping kitten, and hoped that she got her wish that someone was explaining to her everything she had to know. It was a silly wish, but she hoped it had some effect. Dawn was about to come, and they had to leave soon, but she wasn't sure how they were going to get to Linlin's place. They were too many to not attract attention, especially this early in the morning.

As if to answer her question, the Kazuya BMW came into view and parked nearby. In a few moments, the injured were moved in the car, while the less conspicuous looking ones stayed on Hakuryu. Hakkai stayed with the injured and left Gojyo to pretend to be driving Hakuryu so he was in the car with Zeia, Blue, Mayumi and Shun as the driver. On Hakuryu were Linlin, Gojyo, Sanzo and Goku. They got to the Kazuya house without any trouble or suspicion from the police, but they did see fire trucks head for Neri Park. Mayumi mentally wished that they would not be suspected for anything, because this night had been too much already.

As Shun parked the car in front of the house, he looked back at the people in the back seat. "I don't know what's going on yet, but you guys should remember that you can't always end up this lucky…" he sighed. "I know I'm part of this mess, but you guys are closer to each other than me, so please take care of my sister."

Hakkai nodded, so did Zeia and Mayumi.

"Of course."


	10. The Unnerving Calm

**Summer Snow**

curiouzkatt: yes, another chapter long overdue. But it's just now that I have the sudden urge to write, so might as well take advantage of it. This may have a bit of a different tune than my usual writing, but please bear with it, I'm in a writing phase.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Saiyuki.

**Chapter Ten: The Unnerving Calm**

Kusanagi reappeared in her throne room, her less severe wounds healing slowly, although some of her major injuries took her more time to heal herself. The blow she had received from Zeia was not healing with her magic, no matter how hard she tried. She had her assistant clean it and wrap it instead. All the while she cursed to herself, cursing how the set of events have not been going according to plan. Yes, she had dealt with those pesky boys, but it did her more damage than good. "Hand me a mirror!" she yelled, and was promptly obeyed by a ninja. She used her magic to watch the events that had transpired when she had left.

Watching them move, she could feel her eyebrow tick at the thought that such amateurs could get in the way of her plans to unleash darkness. She saw the magician put the shape-shifter to sleep. An idea struck her as she saw the glint of anger in the shape-shifter's eyes as her friend put her to sleep. She laughed to herself, then made herself reappear near a small pond. She waved at the water to make it clearer and put some dark liquid into it. "It's about time I played things my way."

The sun was almost out by the time they made it home, and their mother was up, waiting for them in the living room. She knew things like these would happen with all this Prophecy business, but it doesn't mean that she liked it. Everything had been foretold ever since her husband unearthed the local tomb in the area. She secretly hated her husband for that, for bringing their children into this mess. Despite her anger over it, there was nothing she could do but support her children and pray that they live through this. They already lost Alex, and she didn't want to lose anyone else.

At the sight of them arriving, she ran to meet them at the door. When Shun saw the fire at Neri Park, he grabbed the car keys and told her that his sister must be there. The BMW was first and Shun came out, along with Hakkai, Zeia and Mayumi, who was holding a kitten. Gojyo ran over from the green jeep and helped Shun carry an injured blue haired boy into the house. She caught Hakkai's eye, and he apologized for the trouble. She nodded in understanding and asked them if they needed anything.

"Probably a medicine kit, warm water, some bandages and clean clothes." Hakkai enumerated as the others filed into the house and closed the door behind them. As Mrs. Kazuya went about getting the things they needed, they decided to put Blue and Mili in the guest room where the four were staying, so they could also look through the things Zeia and Mayumi sent from the tree house. As Hakkai and Linlin attended to Blue and Zeia, the rest looked through the array of electrical gadgets in front of them save for Goku, who was ordered to the kitchen with Shun, so that he wouldn't eat anything electronic he thought edible.

Mayumi was examining a mechanical burger and a small vault of some sort while Sanzo looked through a bunch pens that either had a small camera or microphone. They assumed that the small vault contained the strange object that Zeia felt earlier, but Blue wasn't sure of the password. Gojyo held out a clock that had dentures biting on it. He raised an eyebrow in askance. "They've got so many unusual things here." He turned to Blue. "Does this do anything special?"

"Yeah." Blue answered, grinning at him. "It wakes you up early in the morning and haunts you if you don't pay attention to it – OW!" He turned to Hakkai who appeared apologetic and continued to treat the wound on his arm.

" I'm glad that you still have your sense of humor," Linlin quipped as she finished dressing the last of Zeia's wounds. She gave her and ice pack for the big bruise on her shoulder. "It's an alarm clock, Gojyo," she said simply. "You set it to a certain time you want to wake up and it makes a certain sound. Here, let me." She took the alarm clock and poked around, turning a few knobs. She set the alarm to 7am, which was only a few minutes away.

When she set it down, it started to move around, like a pair of chattering teeth, the kind they sell during Halloween. They all looked at the strange alarm bouncing around the floor. Those boys definitely invented weird things. Gojyo just stared at it. "You mean it makes an annoying sound? I think I already have an alarm clock, although it's set on the time he's hungry," he declared, pointing at Goku who protested.

Linlin sweatdropped. "Yeah, you can say it's something like that…" she trailed off as Shun opened the door. He looked out of breath from climbing the stairs. Linlin felt worried. "Did something happen?"

"Not quite," Shun answered, grabbing the remote near the door, and the picture frame on the wall moved to the side to reveal a television, earning surprised remarks from the others. He set the channel on the news. "Dad's on TV."

"… **live from Trail, with our anchor, Jeff Reynolds, here's Professor Kazuya.**" The scene from the studio was moved to one side, to make space for the live feed. The scene was less calm than expected, where their father was trying to stop a parrot on his shoulder from pecking the news anchor who was with him. "**Oh, we're on the air. –ahem- Sorry about that. Anyway, you wanted to ask me some questions?**" The news reporter coughed to hide the smile on his face. "**Yes Professor. There had been strange happenings here in Lion Mane City, and one of your readers pointed it out to us that it could be the Prophecy that you have mentioned in one of your books. Is this the beginning of the end of the world?**" to their surprise, the professor laughed.

"**I highly doubt it. From what I heard from Jeff here, there had been theft of specific objects, explosions and a rumored monster in Lion Mane High School. It could have been some terror threat, ordinary theft, or a plain coincidence. As I mentioned in the book, we just found those writings in that tomb, but my colleagues are still perplexed as to its meaning.**" There was a pause, as the newscaster tried to look for help from the staff.

"Why is dad hiding the fact about the Prophecy?" Linlin wondered as she watched her dad pet the parrot on his shoulder, his calm demeanor not betraying whatever was in his mind. He was just like his twin brother, Uncle Seth. He could have been in the military too, if he wanted, but his love for books and travel got the better of him.

"**Of course professor. However, theoretically, what if what's happening now **_**is**_** really related to the Prophecy?**" Their dad mulled the thought over, looked intently at the camera and answered. "**As the Prophecy states, these are challenges for the chosen ones. Whoever they are, I trust in them to be able to uphold their part of the Prophecy. They're not chosen ones for nothing now, are they? Well, anyhow, if you folks find any leads on this "monster", I'd be more than glad to help you identify it or something.**" Linlin and Mayumi looked at each other, feeling that his words meant to reach them. Also, that he trusted them to fulfill the Prophecy, incognito. The camera focused on the anchor with the professor. "**Thank you Professor Kazuya. Reporting from Berra, Trail, Jeff Reynolds Reporting for AP News Live. Back to you Frank.**" As he finished his statement, the parrot flew over on his head and was about to do damage when the channel focused on the studio. Judging from Frank's reaction, Jeff wouldn't be on air for a while.

"**Uh, thank you Professor Kazuya, and Jeff, I hope you're okay. In other news, several calls were received by the fire department early this morning regarding a fire in Neri Park. However, upon arrival at the said park, there were no flames to be found. The fire department is requesting the public to only use the emergency lines when it is really needed also for their own safet-"**

Shun turned off the television and sighed. "It looks like we have our job cut out for us." Hearing steps coming up the stairs, Shun turned to see their mom halfway up.

"Is Sanzo in there? The principal just called," she said, a little worried, continuing to climb the stairs to the doorway of the guest room. "Although first thing's sure, no classes because the police are all over the place. They went through the surveillance cameras, and before the whole "monster" issue, Sanzo was the last person seen in the recordings." She looked at Sanzo seriously. "They saw you shoot the coach."

_Mili found herself in a dark place, with nothing to light her way but the soft, warm orange light in the distance. She felt the shadows move around her, and a single streak headed to the light. She followed the glow and found herself in Neri Park, but the orange glow was gone. It seemed like a premonition because she saw Zeia go to the tree house and started killing everyone. She felt the horror and the anger well up within her as she frantically looked for Zeia to fight her again, and beat her up a hundred times over. When she turned around, she saw Mayumi by her side. She was still smiling apologetically. "You put me to sleep and took Zeia's side!" she moved to slap Mayumi, but her image disappeared, only to reappear behind her._

"_I'm sorry Mili, please listen to me," she said. "It was the only way you would calm down," Mayumi continued. "It was Kusanagi behind the attack at the tree house, not Zeia."_

"_LIES!" Mili cried. "I DON'T BELIEVE YOU!"_

_Mayumi sighed. "Blue's still– "_

_Mili didn't hear the rest of Mayumi's sentence, because something white enveloped her from behind, and everything disappeared. In place of all the chaos was a woman in all white who smiled at her kindly. "Everything's going to be okay. I'm Kusanagi Hitome."_

"_WHAT!" Mili backed away instantaneously. "You're the enemy!" she snarled._

_To her surprise, the apparition in front of her laughed. "No, I'm not." She said, turning around to walk away. "There are a lot of things you and your friends have been misled to believe. If you want to know the truth, meet me at the research institute today."_

Mili suddenly woke up in a strange room. Puzzled, she sat down to process what she was seeing. It seemed that she was in the guest room of the Kazuya home. She was alone, but there had been signs of recent activity in the room. There were medicine kits and bandages neatly arranged on one side, compute gadgets set aside in one corner. She remembered her dream all too clearly. She needed to know the truth, and the others wouldn't even need to know she was gone. Turning into a sparrow, she flew out the window and into the city.

The green jeep sped along the streets towards Lion Mane High School, its two occupants silent. Sanzo glanced at the sky just as a sparrow flew by. He knew what he needed to say, despite how others worried about it. _Ch!_ He just wanted to get things over with. As they entered the school grounds, they could see the amount of movement outside, and also the amount of damage on the left wing of the school. The whole left wing collapsed, probably right after they left. Police tapes were everywhere and there were some curious onlookers who got through the guard, but they were promptly shooed away. Right outside the main entrance, Jei and Haku were waiting for them, along with Chief Murikawa.

"Genjo Sanzo," the chief greeted. "I'm so glad you could join us so early in the morning." Jei looked at his father, wondering about the sudden eagerness in his voice. He and Haku acknowledged him and Hakkai, and they all went into one of the empty classrooms, which the police have made into their temporary base. Chief Murikawa offered Sanzo a seat in front of a table while he took the seat across it. Hakkai stood at the side of the room, along with the junior investigators. Settling the mood, the chief folded his hands in front of him, and Sanzo folded his arms in front of him in response.

They stared at each other for a while until the chief finally spoke. "I know you're well aware of why you're here, Genjo Sanzo." He brought out pictures taken from the surveillance camera, where he was seen shooting the coach, also pictures of the ninja holding him at sword point. "Just to make things clear, we're not suspecting your involvement in.. probably blowing up half of the school, we just want answers." The door to the classroom slid open, and the principal came in, looking concerned that she was late. They acknowledged her, and the chief focused back on the philosophy teacher. When Sanzo didn't show any signs of agreeing to the questioning, he said, "We just want to know the story first-hand."

Sanzo unfolded his arms a little. "Okay then, start asking your questions."

The chief took his file and browsed through a page. "Well, first off, what were you doing in the school at that time?"

"I just dismissed the kids from detention and I was looking for my ward, Goku and his classmates," he said matter-of-factly. "When I went around the left wing, I heard Miss Mala and the coach arguing over something. I was going to head back when a ninja sneaked up behind me and brought me to them."

"Do you remember what they were arguing about? What about the kids, did you find them?"

"The kids had gone home by themselves. Hakkai picked me up from here when they realized I wasn't at home yet when they got there." Sanzo put a hand to his chin. "The teachers were arguing about spying on someone, a group of kids maybe. I remember them mentioning something about children. When they saw me, they declared that they couldn't let me live because I knew too much, so I acted in self-defense."

"I see. Understandable, but what about Miss Mala, she was there too, right? What happened to her?"

Sanzo looked at the chief seriously, crossed his legs and arms, and smirked. He was sure the chief would have a field day with his answer. "She turned into a monster. My bullets couldn't penetrate her fur, so I ran away."

"But there had been no reports of the monster having gone loose or terrorizing anyone else, much less going after you. Did anyone else respond to the scene?"

"None that I know of."

Chief Murikawa scratched his head. "Well, then that's one mystery left unsolved," he muttered, turning to his son. "You two boys check on the forensics team and see if they're done collecting data. We may need a paranormal team on this case." Jei nodded, and the two sleuths were soon on their way. He looked at Sanzo again. "Your story checks out. The forensics team found your bullet shells and the ninja katana earlier. Although even with your information, there are still a lot of loopholes in this case." He stood up and offered his hand to Sanzo. "Anyway, thank you for your time, Sanzo, you've been a great help." Sanzo stood up as well, taking the offered hand, also thanking the chief.

The principal saw them out of the school, all the while telling them about the arrangements to be made so that the students would not miss out on much. Although until further notice, school will be postponed, and all the teachers re-evaluated given the case at hand. "… but don't worry Sanzo, you've already been cleared by the police so you don't need to go through the evaluation."

"Ch. Thanks, I suppose." Sanzo muttered while cleaning his ear with his small finger. They reached the jeep, bowed their thanks to the teacher and were soon on their way.

Waiting at a stoplight, Hakkai looked at Sanzo, with a wondering look. "I never thought your vows allowed you to lie." He commented, starting the jeep again, turning left at the intersection. He heard Sanzo flick his lighter, and soon, smoke wafted in the air.

"It wasn't a lie, I just didn't tell the whole truth," he replied, not wanting any more to do with the topic.

"What about the running away part?"

"Like I said, I didn't tell the whole truth."

Hakkai laughed, and dropped the subject. The others would be pleased to know that the police weren't going to sniff their trail for a while, but things needed to be settled soon, otherwise the mess will only get bigger.

Mili dropped near the research institute, turning back into a girl in a nearby cover of trees. She watched as people came in and out of the stark white building, seeming to be busy about a hundred things at once. It didn't feel like the impression she had from the ninjas and it didn't seem to be a likely hiding place for evildoers. Of course she could be wrong and she may not come out alive. She prayed to the heavens that whatever death may she be found, so long as she has a body to be buried. She was nervous about this meeting, but she just had to find out the truth. Gathering her resolve, she stepped in front of the automatic doors and went in. Walking through the corridors, she felt the air of sophistication around her and gulped. Seeing an information section, she approached the lady behind the desk.

"Welcome to Lion Mane's Research Institute," the woman said politely, looking at her in wonder, probably because she was really young. "How may I help you?"

"I'm looking for Kusanagi Hitome," she mumbled, unsure if it was right to go to this place after a strange dream. What if Kusanagi never really did call for her here? The answer was simple, thank them and be embarrassed about it. When the woman didn't seem to find her statement strange, she continued. "She.. told me to come here today…"

"Oh, madam did say she had a little guest today, that must be you," the woman chirped. She stepped out of her table and motioned Mili to follow her to the elevators. She waited for the elevator and when it stopped, they got in and the woman pressed for the 25th floor. "It's rare for madam to have guests. Are you her niece? I'm pretty sure you're not her daughter. She never married."

"I'm a distant relative," she fibbed. "I just happened to be in town, and you know how it is with relatives, you can't go to their town without dropping by for a visit." Mili laughed away the awkwardness she felt, having to lie and be related to someone she hardly knew.

DING!

"Here we are!" the woman declared, leading her into the office of the president of the research institute. They stopped by the big doors and the woman knelt down a bit to address Mili. "Now, if ever you need any help, I'm just at the front desk, okay? I'm Macie." Mili nodded, and the woman opened the doors. "Madam, your little guest has arrived." With that, she let Mili enter and closed the door as she left.

Kusanagi smiled when the doors closed behind her guest. She used a lot of her energy to make herself an illusion of what the girl thought was safe and trustworthy. When she turned her chair around, what Mili saw was a middle-aged successful businesswoman, with short hair slightly turning white from brown. "Why it's very nice to see you," She gave the final touch by standing up and escorting Mili to have a seat. Instead of sitting back behind the table, she sat across from her, on another seat. When the girl didn't speak, she continued. "So where do you want me to start?"

Mili finally picked up her resolve and looked Kusanagi straight in the eye. "From the beginning please. I want to know and understand everything." There was no turning back now, and there was definitely no other chance.

curiouzkatt: hmmmmmm. I'm tired. x3x to Sakural7865, thank you for reviewing, despite my slow updates. ^^; thank you for putting up with this crazy fic, I hope to finish this in the near future.


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